The Tivoli area had been subdivided and sold as farmland in 1861–63, and the observant purchasers went in for coal mining.
Harry Hooper and his partner John Robinson called their mine, and one of the coal seams on it, the Tivoli, and the locality took its name from the mine.[4]
Houses and communities formed around the irregular subdivisions and mining areas.
The church hall was used as a school room for children and adults (night classes) from 1 July 1875. It had over 100 pupils by 1877 and opened as Tivoli Provisional School on 26 Jan 1877. On 17 January 1881 it became Tivoli State School. In 1937 it was renamed Tivoli Lower State School but in 1977 was renamed Tivoli State School again.[10]
Whilst many houses were built for workmen, mine owners built close to their work sites. Next to the school in Mount Crosby Road the family of John Wright, proprietor of the Eclipse mine, built three houses on large allotments. The grandest, Oaklands is the central one; all have spacious gardens and are listed on the Queensland Heritage Register.[11]
On the other side of Mount Crosby Road, the Abermain Colliery (1880s) was a large operation with a spur line from the Tivoli railway line and several coke ovens.
In another direction, a tramway was opened from the Tivoli mines to the pumping station at the Mount Crosby weir, transporting coal from 1913 until about 1932.
After lying idle for several years the Abermain Colliery was used for sewerage treatment. It adjoins a sports complex and the Ipswich Caravan Village. A short distance south there is the Abermain electricity substation which was enlarged in 2009.
Financed and named by John Robinson (Ipswich soda-water manufacturer) and Harry Hooper, it seems that Tivoli was a Hooper family name.[12]
Demographics
In the 2016 census, Tivoli had a population of 1,487 people.[13]
In the 2021 census, Tivoli had a population of 1,460 people.[1]
