72 Facts About Brisbane

Brisbane is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.

Brisbane is located in the hilly floodplain of the Brisbane River Valley between Moreton Bay and the Taylor and D'Aguilar mountain ranges.

German Lutherans established the first free settlement of Zion Hill at Nundah in 1838, and in 1859 Brisbane was chosen as Queensland's capital when the state separated from New South Wales.

Brisbane is classified as a global city, and is a centre of research and innovation in the Asia-Pacific, with strengths in medicine and biotechnology.

Brisbane has hosted major events including the 1982 Commonwealth Games, World Expo 88, the 2014 G20 summit, and will host the 2032 Summer Olympics and Paralympics.

Related searches

At the time of colonisation the Brisbane area was inhabited by clans of the Yugara, Turrbal and Quandamooka peoples.

Resource-rich area and a natural avenue for seasonal movement, Brisbane was a way station for groups travelling to ceremonies and spectacles.

In 1823 the Governor of New South Wales, Sir Thomas Brisbane, gave instructions for the development of a new northern penal settlement, and an exploration party led by John Oxley further explored Moreton Bay in November 1823.

Governor Brisbane stayed overnight in a tent and often landed ashore, thus bestowing upon the future Brisbane City the distinction of being the only Australian capital city visited by its namesake.

Brisbane developed a substantial settlement of brick and stone buildings, complete with school and hospital.

Brisbane formed additional outstations and made several important journeys of exploration.

Non-convict European settlement of the Brisbane region commenced in 1838 and the population grew strongly thereafter, with free settlers soon far outstripping the convict population.

In 1864, the Great Fire of Brisbane burned through the central parts of the city, destroying much of Queen Street.

The 1880s brought a period of economic prosperity and a major construction boom in Brisbane, that produced an impressive number of notable public and commercial buildings.

In 1893 Brisbane was affected by the Black February flood, when the Brisbane River burst its banks on three occasions in February and again in June in the same year, with the city receiving more than a year's rainfall during February 1893, leaving much of the city's population homeless.

Wartime Brisbane was defined by the racial segregation of African American servicemen, prohibition and sly grog, crime, and jazz ballrooms.

In 1942, Brisbane was the site of a violent clash between visiting US military personnel and Australian servicemen and civilians, which resulted in one death and hundreds of injuries.

Post-war Brisbane had developed a "big country town" stigma, an image the city's politicians and marketers were very keen to remove.

Trams in Brisbane were a popular mode of public transport until the network was closed in 1969, in part the result of the Paddington tram depot fire.

Between 1968 and 1987, when Queensland was governed by Joh Bjelke-Petersen, whose government was characterised by social conservatism and the use of police force against demonstrators, and which ended with the Fitzgerald Inquiry into police corruption, Brisbane developed a counterculture focused on the University of Queensland, street marches and Brisbane punk rock music.

The 1974 Brisbane flood was a major disaster which temporarily crippled the city, and saw a substantial landslip at Corinda.

Brisbane hosted the 1982 Commonwealth Games and World Expo 88.

Brisbane was impacted by major floods in January 2011 and February 2022.

The Brisbane River did not reach the same height as the previous 1974 flood on either occasion, but still caused extensive damage and disruption to the city.

Brisbane hosted major international events including the final Goodwill Games in 2001, the Rugby League World Cup Final in 2008 and again in 2017, as well as the 2014 G20 Brisbane summit.

Related searches

The greater Brisbane region is on the coastal plain east of the Great Dividing Range, with the Taylor and D'Aguilar ranges extending into the metropolitan area.

The Brisbane River is a wide tidal estuary and its waters throughout most of the metropolitan area are brackish and navigable.

Brisbane is located within the South East Queensland biogeographic region, and is home to numerous Eucalyptus varieties.

Brisbane is home to numerous bird species, with common species including rainbow lorikeets, kookaburras, galahs, Australian white ibises, Australian brushturkeys, Torresian crows, Australian magpies and noisy miners.

The Brisbane River is home to many fish species including yellowfin bream, flathead, Australasian snapper, and bull sharks.

Brisbane has a humid subtropical climate with hot, wet summers and moderately dry, moderately warm winters.

On 19 July 2007, Brisbane's temperature fell below the freezing point for the first time since records began, registering -0.

Brisbane is within the southern reaches of the tropical cyclone risk zone.

Greater Brisbane had a density of 159 inhabitants per square kilometre in 2021.

Brisbane is the origin of a distinctive architectural style known as Queenslander architecture, which developed in the 1840s and characterises the majority of pre-war homes built in the metropolitan area.

Queenslander houses are considered iconic to Brisbane and are typically sold at a significant premium to equivalent modern houses.

Brisbane's tallest building is currently Brisbane Skytower, which has a height of 270 metres.

Brisbane has the 26th largest immigrant population among world metropolitan areas.

Areas of Sunnybank, Sunnybank Hills, Stretton, Robertson, Calamvale, Macgregor, Eight Mile Plains, Runcorn and Rochedale, are home to a large proportion of Brisbane's Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong-born population, with Chinese being the most commonly-reported ancestry in each of these areas.

Brisbane's CBD is home to two cathedrals – St John's and St Stephen's .

Categorised as a global city, Brisbane is among Asia-Pacific cities with largest GDPs and is one of the major business hubs in Australia, with strengths in mining, banking, insurance, transportation, information technology, real estate and food.

The Port of Brisbane is located at the Brisbane River's mouth on Moreton Bay and on the adjacent Fisherman's Island, created by means of land reclamation.

Brisbane is home to several art galleries, the largest of which are the Queensland Art Gallery and the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art, which is the largest modern art gallery in Australia.

Brisbane is home to numerous small theatres including the Brisbane Arts Theatre in Petrie Terrace, the La Boite Theatre Company which performs at the Roundhouse Theatre at Kelvin Grove, the Twelfth Night Theatre at Bowen Hills, the Metro Arts Theatre in Edward Street, and the Queensland Theatre Company's Bille Brown Theatre in West End.

Brisbane has maintained a constantly evolving live music scene, producing acts spanning genres including punk, indie rock, electronic music, experimental music, noise rock, metal and post-punk.

Related searches

The Brisbane Entertainment Centre at Boondall is an arena which hosts many musical concerts, with some of the largest being held at Lang Park.

Prominent writers from Brisbane include David Malouf, Nick Earls, and Li Cunxin, author of Mao's Last Dancer and artistic director of the Queensland Ballet.

Brisbane has hosted several major sporting events including the 1982 Commonwealth Games and the 2001 Goodwill Games, as well as events during the 1987 Rugby World Cup, 1992 Cricket World Cup, 2000 Sydney Olympics, 2003 Rugby World Cup, 2008 Rugby League World Cup, 2017 Rugby League World Cup and the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Tourism plays a major role in Brisbane's economy, being the third-most popular destination for international tourists after Sydney and Melbourne.

Mount Coot-tha Reserve, including Mount Coot-tha, the Mount Coot-tha Lookout, the Mount Coot-tha Botanic Gardens and the Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium is a popular recreational attraction for hiking and bushwalking.

Immediately to the south and north of Brisbane are the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast respectively, which are home to several of Australia's most popular swimming and surfing beaches, and are popular day and weekend destinations for Brisbanites.

In 2015, a competition by travel guidebook Rough Guides saw Brisbane elected as one of the top ten most beautiful cities in the world, citing reasons such as "its winning combination of high-rise modern architecture, lush green spaces and the enormous Brisbane River that snakes its way through the centre before emptying itself into the azure Moreton Bay".

Two other major universities, which are not headquartered in Brisbane, have multiple campuses in the Brisbane metropolitan area, namely:.

Brisbane is a major destination for international students, who constitute a large proportion of enrolments in Brisbane's universities and are important to the city's economy and real estate market.

Brisbane has an extensive transport network within the city, as well as connections to regional centres, interstate and to overseas destinations.

Brisbane is served by a large network of urban and inter-urban motorways.

Brisbane has a large network of major road tunnels under the metropolitan area, known as the TransApex network, which include the Clem Jones Tunnel between the inner-north and inner-south, the Airport Link tunnel in the north-east and the Legacy Way tunnel in the south-west.

Brisbane has a large dedicated bus rapid transit network, the Brisbane busway network.

Brisbane Airport is the city's main airport, the third busiest in Australia after Sydney Airport and Melbourne Airport.

Brisbane is served by other major airports in South East Queensland, including Gold Coast Airport at Coolangatta, Sunshine Coast Airport at Marcoola and Toowoomba Wellcamp Airport at Wellcamp.

Port of Brisbane is located on the south side of the mouth of the Brisbane River on Moreton Bay and on the adjacent Fisherman's Island, an artificial island created by land reclamation.

Brisbane is home to the headquarters of the Queensland Ambulance Service central executive, located at the Emergency Services Complex Kedron Park, along with the headquarters of the Queensland Fire and Emergency Services and the Queensland Emergency Operations Centre.

Water storage, treatment and delivery for Brisbane is handled by Seqwater, which sells on to Queensland Urban Utilities for distribution to the greater Brisbane area.

Metropolitan Brisbane is serviced by all major and most minor telecommunications companies and their networks, including Telstra, Optus and Vodafone Australia.

Brisbane is home to numerous cemeteries including the following large 19th-century historical cemeteries: the 44-hectare Toowong Cemetery, Balmoral Cemetery, Lutwyche Cemetery, Nudgee Cemetery, Nundah Cemetery and South Brisbane Cemetery.

Related searches

Main local print newspapers of Brisbane are The Courier-Mail and its sibling The Sunday Mail, both owned by News Corporation.

Brisbane receives the national daily, The Australian, its sibling the Weekend Australian, as well as the Australian Financial Review.

Brisbane Times is Brisbane's second major local news source, owned by Nine, and is online only.

Brisbane is served by all five major television networks in Australia, which broadcast from prominent television transmission towers on the summit of Mount Coot-tha.

Brisbane is serviced by five major public radio stations including major commercial radio stations, including 612 ABC Brisbane ; ABC Radio National ; ABC NewsRadio ; ABC Classic FM ; Triple J ; and SBS Radio .

Brisbane is serviced by numerous major commercial and community radio stations including 4BC ; 4KQ ; 4BH ; KIIS 97.

Brisbane is serviced by community radio stations such as VAC Radio ; Radio Brisvaani ; Radio Arabic ; 4EB ; 98.