Brisbane

   

This article is about the Australian city. For other uses of Brisbane, see Brisbane (disambiguation).
Brisbane by night
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Brisbane by night

Brisbane is the capital city of the state of Queensland, Australia. The city's name is pronounced "BRIZ-buhn" (SAMPA: ["brIzb@n], IPA: [ˈbɹɪzbən]). The City of Brisbane has around 940,000 inhabitants, while the surrounding metropolitan area population is around 1.7 million.

Geography and climate

Brisbane is situated in the southeast corner of Queensland at latitude 27°28′S, longitude 153°02′E. The city straddles the Brisbane River, and its eastern suburbs line the shores of Moreton Bay. The greater Brisbane region lies on the coastal plain, east of the Great Dividing Range.

Brisbane has a subtropical climate with warm, mild winters and hot, moiste summers. Brisbane is subject to high humidity, mainly from November through to April.

Some of its climatic averages:

  • Mean January maximum temperature — 29.4°C (84.9°F)
  • Mean January minimum temperature — 20.7°C (69.3°F)
  • Mean July maximum temperature — 20.4°C (68.7°F)
  • Mean July minimum temperature — 9.5°C (49.1°F)
  • Mean annual rainfall — 1146.4mm (45.1 inches)
  • Wettest month on average — January, 159.6mm (6.3 inches)
  • Driest month on average — August, 45.9mm (1.8 inches)

Some of its historical extremes:

Demographics

The estimated population of the City of Brisbane is 938,384 (as of June 2003). Together with surrounding Local Government Areas, Brisbane has an estimated metropolitan population of 1,733,200 as of 2003. Brisbane City Council is the most populous Local Government Area in Australia and is one of the largest cities in the world in terms of geographic area. Brisbane boasts Australia's highest rate of capital city population growth. The metropolitan population reportedly grew by 10.5% between 1998 and 2003.

Economy

Brisbane has a diverse and generally vibrant economy with many sectors and industries represented in the city's total production of goods and services. Both white-collar and blue-collar industries are present, with white-collar industries such as information technology, financial services, higher education and public sector administration generally concentrated in and around the Central Business District and recently established office parks in the outer suburbs. Blue-collar industries such as petroleum refining, stevedoring, paper milling, metalworking and QR railway workshops tend to be located on the lower reaches of the Brisbane River and in new industrial zones on the urban fringe.

Government

On 27 March 2004, former civil engineer Campbell Newman defeated incumbent Lord Mayor Tim Quinn in mayoral elections. Newman is a member of the Liberal Party and is only the second ever Liberal Lord Mayor of Brisbane.

The area of Brisbane city is split into 26 wards, which each elect a council member as a representative. The Lord Mayor is also elected by a popular vote, in which all residents must also participate. Voting occurs every four years. Currently, the Labor Party has a majority of seats on Council, causing inevitable problems as the Labor-dominated Council and the Liberal Lord Mayor argue over policy.

History

The city is named after Sir Thomas Brisbane (1773–1860), British soldier and colonial administrator born in Ayrshire, Scotland. However before British colonisation, Brisbane was known as 'Meeaan-jin' by the Turrbul tribe. In 1823, the explorer John Oxley discovered the Brisbane River and in 1824, the first convict colony was established at Redcliffe Point. Only one year later, the colony was moved south from Redcliffe to North Quay on the Brisbane River, which is now part of Brisbane's CBD. In 1842, the area was opened for free settlement, while the convict colony was closed. By 1869 almost all of the Turrbul people had died. The few remaining survivors escaped the region with the help of the settler, Tom Petrie. When Queensland separated from New South Wales in 1859 and became a colony by itself, Brisbane was declared the capital, but it was not until 1902 that Brisbane was officially declared a city. In 1924, the City of Brisbane Act was passed, giving Brisbane a local government, which took up its work in 1925. During World War II, US troops were stationed in the city, and it became the headquarters for General Douglas MacArthur, the Allied Commander of the South-West Pacific region.

Brisbane has been inundated by three severe floods of the Brisbane River — in 1864, 1893 and 1974.

Events

Tourism

Sights to see in the city's centre include Southbank Parklands (the site of Expo 88) and the recently developed Roma Street Parklands. There are a lot of shopping boutiques in Fortitude Valley and Queen Street Mall which has good shopping. The CityCat ferry service runs along the Brisbane River from the University of Queensland's Saint Lucia campus to Brett's Wharf at Hamilton, and is an easy way to get from one side of town to the other. Brisbane is also home to:

Brisbane is blessed with many other tourist attractions within a short travelling distance.

Entertainment

Brisbane has a thriving performing arts culture, housed in theatres such as La Boite's Roundhouse Theatre in Kelvin Grove, the Optus Playhouse and Lyric theatre at Southbank, the Powerhouse in New Farm, the Brisbane Arts Theatre on Petrie Terrace and the recently opened "Judith Wright Centre" in Fortitude Valley.

Brisbane's CBD, in particular the fashionable Queen Street Mall, has a wide range of restaurants, and shops selling clothes, music and souvenirs.

Media

Brisbane is served by six broadcast television stations: ABC, Seven, Nine, Ten, SBS, and community television station Briz 31.

There are eight commercial radio stations licensed to cover the Brisbane market: 4BC, 4BH, 4TAB, 4KQ, B105 FM, Triple M, NEW 97.3, and NovaFM. The ABC has all five of its radio networks broadcasting to Brisbane, via 612 ABC, Radio National, Triple J, Newsradio, ABC Classic FM. SBS also broadcasts its national radio network to Brisbane.

Sport

Brisbane's local sporting teams are:

Colleges and universities

A number of tertiary education institutions have campuses in Brisbane, or in the surrounding areas:

Sister cities

Airports

Suburbs

See the list of Brisbane suburbs.

See also

External links


Capital cities of Australia
National NSW NT Qld SA Tas Vic WA
Canberra Sydney Darwin Brisbane Adelaide Hobart Melbourne Perth
Other Australian cities




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