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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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