A convict river town became Australia’s third-largest city
Brisbane, Queensland’s capital, holds about 2.8 million people—Australia’s third-largest city—on Turrbal/Yagara country also called Meanjin. A Moreton Bay penal station opened at Redcliffe in 1824, then shifted to North Quay on the Brisbane River in May 1825.
The Yagara, Turrbal, and Quandamooka peoples have lived here for more than 22,000 years, with the river, Maiwar, at the heart of their life. John Oxley found the river in 1823 with help from castaways and recommended a penal colony. Under Captain Patrick Logan the station became one of the harshest in New South Wales, and it closed in 1842, opening the area to free settlers. Aboriginal resistance under leaders such as Dundalli continued through the War of Southern Queensland from 1843 to 1855.
Brisbane became capital of the new colony of Queensland in 1859. From the 1860s it was a major port for blackbirded South Sea Islander labourers, a trade many historians liken to slavery. Fires in 1864 prompted a switch from timber to brick, and the Great Flood of 1893 swept away the first Victoria Bridge. In 1899 Anderson Dawson formed the world’s first labour government here.
In 1925 the City of Brisbane became Australia’s largest council, and the Story Bridge opened in 1940. During World War II General MacArthur ran the South West Pacific campaign from the city. The 1974 flood led to Wivenhoe Dam, and under Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen, bans on street marches fed protest and one of Australia’s earliest punk scenes. After Expo 88, the riverfront site became the South Bank Parklands, opened in 1992.
Now home to about 2.8 million people, Brisbane has the country’s third-busiest airport and seaport, and after hosting the 1982 Commonwealth Games and the 2014 G20 it will host the 2032 Olympics.
Source: Brisbane
