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Brisbane is the state capital of the Australian
state of Queensland and is the largest city in that
state. With an estimated population of approximately
2 million, it is also the third most populous city
in Australia.
The city is situated on the Brisbane River on a
low-lying floodplain between Moreton Bay and the
Great Dividing Range in south-eastern Queensland.
The local indigenous people knew the area as
Mian-jin, meaning 'place shaped as a spike'.
Brisbane is named after Sir Thomas Brisbane, the
Governor of New South Wales from 1821 to 1825.
Brisbane's demonym is a Brisbanite.
The first European settlement in Queensland was a
penal colony at Redcliffe, 28 kilometres (17 mi)
north of the Brisbane central business district, in
1824. That settlement was soon abandoned and moved
to North Quay in 1825. Free settlers were permitted
from 1842. Brisbane was chosen as the capital when
Queensland was proclaimed a separate colony from New
South Wales in 1859.
At a municipal level, the city is governed by the
Brisbane City Council. In 1925, the City of Brisbane
Act was passed by the Queensland Government,
abolishing 20 local government authorities in the
city and forming the largest local authority in
Australia.
The city played a central role in the Allied
campaign during World War II as the South West
Pacific headquarters for General Douglas MacArthur.
Brisbane is fast becoming a world city renowned for
its Culture, Architecture and its landscape. The
metropolitan area is surrounded by many national
parks, and contains many rivers, bays and inlets.
The main airport serving Brisbane is Brisbane
International Airport, located 14km north-east of
the CBD
Brisbane has hosted many large cultural and sporting
events including the 1982 Commonwealth Games, World
Expo '88 and the 2001 Goodwill Games. In 2008,
Brisbane was classified as a gamma world city+ in
the World Cities Study Group’s inventory by
Loughborough University.
Geography
Satellite Image of Brisbane Metropolitan Area from
the International Space Station.Brisbane is in the
southeast corner of Queensland, Australia. The city
is centred along the Brisbane River, and its eastern
suburbs line the shores of Moreton Bay. The greater
Brisbane region is on the coastal plain east of the
Great Dividing Range.
The city of Brisbane is hilly. The urban area,
including the central business district, are
partially elevated by spurs of the Herbert Taylor
Range, such as the summit of Mount Coot-tha,
reaching up to 300 metres (980 ft) and the smaller
Enoggera Hill. Other prominent rises in Brisbane are
Mount Gravatt and nearby Toohey Mountain. Mount
Petrie at 170 metres (560 ft) and the lower rises of
Highgate Hill, Mount Ommaney, Stephens Mountain and
Whites Hill are dotted across the city.
The city is on a low-lying floodplain. Many suburban
creeks criss-cross the city, increasing the risk of
flooding. The city has suffered two major floods
since colonisation, in 1893 and 1974. The 1974
Brisbane flood occurred partly as a result of
"Cyclone Wanda". Heavy rain had fallen continuously
for three weeks before the Australia Day weekend
flood (26 – 27 January 1974). The flood damaged many
parts of the city, especially the suburbs of Oxley,
Bulimba, Rocklea, Coorparoo, Toowong and New Farm.
The City Botanic gardens were inundated, leading to
a new colony of mangroves forming in the City Reach
of the Brisbane River.
Urban Structure
Brisbane central business district
with The Brisbane City Botanical Gardens on the
left.The Brisbane central business district (CBD)
lies in a curve of the Brisbane river. The CBD
covers only 2.2 km2 (0.8 sq mi) and is walkable.
Central streets are named after members of the royal
family. Streets named after female members
(Adelaide, Alice, Ann, Charlotte, Elizabeth,
Margaret, Mary) run parallel to Queen Street and
Queen Street Mall (named in honour of Queen
Victoria) and perpendicular to streets named after
male members (Albert, Edward, George, William). The
city has retained some heritage buildings dating
back to 1820s, The Windmill in Wickham Park and the
Old Commissariat Store on William Street are
considered to be the oldest surviving buildings in
Brisbane. Both were built by convict labour in 1828.
The Windmill was originally used for the grinding of
grain and a punishment for the convicts that
manually operated the grinding mill. The Windmill
tower’s other significant claim to fame, largely
ignored, is that the first television signals in the
southern hemisphere were transmitted from it by
experimenters in April 1934—long before TV commenced
in most places. These experimental TV broadcasts
continued until World War II. The Old Commissariat
Store, originally used partly as a grainhouse, has
also been a hostel for immigrants and used for the
storage of records. Built with Brisbane tuff from
the nearby Kangaroo Point Cliffs and sandstone from
a quarry near today's Albion Park Racecourse, it is
now the home of the Royal Historical Society of
Brisbane. It contains a museum and can also be hired
for small functions.
The city has a density of 379.4 people per square
kilometre, which is high for an Australian city and
comparable to that of Sydney. However like many
western cities, Brisbane sprawls into the greater
metropolitan area. The lower population density
reflects the fact that most of Brisbane's housing
stock consists of detached houses. Early legislation
decreed a minimum size for residential blocks
resulting in few terrace houses being constructed in
Brisbane. Recently the density of the city and inner
city neighbourhoods has increased with the
construction of apartments, with the result that the
population of the central business district has
doubled over the last 5 years and closing the gap on
Sydney and Melbourne. Brisbane has a lower inner
city population density than Australia's two largest
cities, Sydney and Melbourne, although constant
population growth The high density housing that
existed came in the form of miniature
Queenslander-style houses which resemble the much
larger traditional styles but are sometimes only one
quarter the size. These miniature Queenslanders are
becoming scarce but can still be seen in the inner
city suburbs. Multi residence accommodations (such
as apartment blocks) are relatively new to Brisbane,
with few such blocks built before 1970, other than
in inner suburbs such as New Farm. Pre-1950 housing
was often built in a distinctive architectural style
known as a Queenslander, featuring timber
construction with large verandahs and high ceilings.
The relatively low cost of timber in South-East
Queensland meant that until recently most residences
were constructed of timber, rather than brick or
stone. Many of these houses are elevated on stumps
(also called "stilts"), that were originally timber,
but are now frequently replaced by steel or
concrete.
Currently, Brisbane has only two buildings greater
than 200 metres in height. The tallest is a
residential tower, Aurora Tower and the second is a
mixed use tower Riparian Plaza. There is also a
further three buildings over 200m metres which are
either under construction or have had construction
put on hold.
Climate
Brisbane has a humid subtropical climate (Koppen
climate classification Cfa) with hot, humid summers
and dry, mild winters.[38] From late Spring through
to early Autumn, thunderstorms are common over
Brisbane, with the more severe events accompanied by
large damaging hail stones, torrential rain and
destructive winds. The city's highest recorded
temperature was 43.2 °C (110 °F) on 26 January 1940.
On 19 July 2007, Brisbane's temperature fell below
the freezing point for the first time since records
began, registering −0.1 °C (31.8 °F) at the airport.
Brisbane's wettest day was 21 January 1887, when 465
millimetres (18.3 in) of rain fell on the city, the
highest maximum daily rainfall of Australia's
capital cities.
From 2006, Brisbane and surrounding temperate areas
have experienced the most severe drought in over a
century, with dam levels dropping below one quarter
of their capacity. Residents have been mandated by
local laws to observe level 6 water restrictions on
gardening and other outdoor water usage. Per capita
water usage is below 140 litres per day, giving
Brisbane one of the lowest per capita usages of
water of any Western city in the world.
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