Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and largest city of the state of Queensland and the third-most populous city in Australia, with a population of approximately 2.8 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of South East Queensland urban region with an estimated population of 4.1 million in 2024. The central business district is situated within a peninsula of the Brisbane River about from its mouth at Moreton Bay. Greater Brisbane sprawls over the hilly floodplain of the Brisbane River Valley between Pacific Ocean and the Taylor and D'Aguilar mountain ranges, encompassing several local government areas, most centrally the City of Brisbane, the most populous local government area in Australia. The demonym of Brisbane is Brisbanite.
The Moreton Bay penal settlement was founded in 1824 at Redcliffe as a place for secondary offenders from the Sydney colony, but in May 1825 moved to North Quay on the banks of the Brisbane River, so named for the Governor of New South Wales Sir Thomas Brisbane. 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. During World War II, the Allied command in the South West Pacific was based in the city, along with the headquarters for General Douglas MacArthur of the United States Army.
Brisbane is a global centre for research and innovation and is a transportation hub, being served by large rail, bus and ferry networks, as well as Brisbane Airport and the Port of Brisbane, Australia's third-busiest airport and seaport. A diverse city with over 36% of its metropolitan population being foreign-born, Brisbane is frequently ranked highly in lists of the most liveable cities. Brisbane has hosted major events including the 1982 Commonwealth Games, World Expo 88 and the 2014 G20 summit, and will host the 2032 Summer Olympics.
Brisbane is one of Australia's most popular tourist destinations and is Australia's most biodiverse and greenest city. The city is known for its cultural heritage, architecture, museums and galleries, festivals and public art, food, music, sports and active lifestyle, and its numerous parks and gardens. South Bank and its extensive parklands, is Queensland's most visited destination attracting over 14 million visitors annually.
The surrounding region includes the Gondwana Rainforests; as part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Bunya Mountains National Park, the Glass House Mountains, and Moreton Bay alongside the islands of Moreton, Bribie and North Stradbroke Island, and the historic islands of Peel and St Helena Island National Park.
Toponymy
Brisbane is named after the Brisbane River, which in turn was named after Thomas Brisbane, the British-born governor of New South Wales from 1821 to 1825. The surname is possibly derived from the Scottish Gaelic bris, meaning and the Old English word ban meaning . Alternatively, the surname could be derived from either "Braesbane" indicating white hills or "Braesburn" meaning a small rivulet from the hillside. Popular nicknames for Brisbane include Brissie, Brisvegas, and the ''River City.Brisbane is also known as Meanjin, Magandjin and other spellings, the Indigenous name likely originally for Gardens Point. There is a difference of opinion between local traditional owners over the spelling, provenance and pronunciation of indigenous names for Brisbane. The daughter of early colonist Tom Petrie recorded that the name "Mi-an-jin" or "Me-an-jin''" referred to the area that Brisbane CBD now straddles. Some sources state that the name means or referencing the shape of the Brisbane River along the area of the Brisbane CBD. A contemporary Turrbal organisation has also suggested it means. Local Elder Gaja Kerry Charlton posits that Meanjin is based on a European understanding of, and that the phonetically similar Yagara name Magandjin — after the native tulipwood trees at Gardens Point — is a more accurate and appropriate Aboriginal name for Brisbane.
History
Indigenous prehistory
The Brisbane region has been inhabited for more than 22,000 years by the Yagara, Turrbal and Quandamooka peoples.The Brisbane River formed the heart of cultural, economic and ceremonial life, with major camps at Barambin, Woolloon-cappem and Musgrave Park.
The central city peninsula was traditionally known as Meeanjin.
18th and 19th centuries
charted parts of Moreton Bay in 1799, followed by John Oxley in 1823, who located the Brisbane River with the help of castaways and recommended the area for a penal settlement.The first outpost was founded at Redcliffe in 1824 before relocating to North Quay in 1825.
Under Captain Patrick Logan, the penal station gained a reputation as one of the harshest in New South Wales. The 1820s and 1830s saw the settlement experience recurrent conflict with neighbouring Indigenous tribes, including organised maize-field raids and the wider Moreton Bay Islands conflict.
The settlement closed in 1842, opening the district to free colonisation.
File:Drawing of Captain Towns' "Townsvale" Cotton Plantation, Veresdale, Queensland.jpg|thumb|200px|Drawing of indentured South Sea Islanders on a Logan River plantation, c.1865
Free settlement and pastoralists expanded along the river and surrounding valleys throughout the mid-19th century.
The Brisbane district became a major front of the War of Southern Queensland, involving coordinated resistance from Yuggera and Turrbal groups, with support from neighbouring Ningy Ningy people, under leaders such as Dundalli, Yilbung and the Duke of York. Raids and ambushes were carried out across the developing settlement, including at Breakfast Creek, South Brisbane, the Sandgate district and the Pine Rivers. In response, British forces, including detachments of the 99th and later 11th regiment launched several armed operations through York's Hollow between 1846 and 1848.
Brisbane grew as a river port serving pastoral districts and the Moreton Bay islands, while German and Scottish migrants established early agricultural settlements, notably the Zion Hill Mission at Nundah in 1838 and Fortitude Valley named after the Fortitude.
Brisbane became the capital of the newly separated Colony of Queensland in 1859. Civic development followed, including the construction of Parliament House and the Treasury Building, expanding wharves and new rail connections linking the town to surrounding pastoral districts.
File:Parliamentary Buildings & Govt. Imperial guard, Brisbane, March, 1869.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Queensland Parliament under guard, George street c.1869
From the 1860s, Brisbane became a key Western Pacific port in the trade of blackbirded labour, serving as a major point of transit for South Sea Islander indentured labourers transported to plantation districts across Queensland, linking the city to the wider plantation economy of the colony. Although administered as an indenture system, many historians regard the trade as a form of slavery or slavery-like coercion, citing deceptive recruitment practices, restrictions on movement and widespread exploitation.
In the late 19th century, Brisbane had become unusually cosmopolitan for its size, as its Pacific-facing port and persistent labour shortages encouraged earlier and more varied migration streams than most other Australian colonial cities, including German farming families, substantial Scottish and Irish communities, a Chinese quarter at Frog's Hollow, a Jewish congregation, and one of Australia's earliest Russian migrant groups.”
Brisbane's late 19th century development was repeatedly shaped by major natural disasters. The city suffered two destructive fires in 1864, which destroyed much of the early commercial centre and led to new building regulations favouring brick over timber construction. Economic hardship in 1866 sparked the “Bread or Blood” protests outside Government House, reflecting wider tensions during the financial crisis of the mid-1860s. Vulnerability to natural hazards continued into the 1890s, when the Great Flood of 1893 inundated large areas of Brisbane, swept away the first Victoria Bridge and became one of the most significant floods in the city's history. Following the destruction of the Victoria Bridge, a temporary ferry service was introduced, but it was later involved in the 1896 Pearl ferry disaster, in which an estimated 80–100 people lost their lives.
20th century
Following Federation in 1901, Brisbane entered the new century as the capital of Queensland, marked by civic celebrations and the laying of the foundation stone for St John's Cathedral.The early decades of the century were shaped by labour unrest, including the 1912 Brisbane general strike, and by political tensions during the First World War, such as the 1917 raid on the Queensland Government Printing Office, and the Red Flag riots of 1918–19.
In 1925 the creation of the City of Brisbane formed Australia's largest municipal authority, followed in 1930 by the opening of Brisbane City Hall, one of the city's most significant public buildings, and later in 1940 with the opening of the Story Bridge.
File:StateLibQld 1 130295 Parade of RAAF recruits through Queen Street, Brisbane, August 1940.jpg|thumb|200px|Parade of Royal Australian Air Force servicemen through Queen street,
During the Second World War, Brisbane became a major Allied headquarters and logistics centre in the South West Pacific. General Douglas MacArthur established his headquarters in the city at MacArthur Chambers, and large numbers of American and Australian personnel were stationed throughout the metropolitan area. Wartime conditions reshaped daily life, from rationing and rapid military construction to social pressures that culminated in incidents such as the Battle of Brisbane in 1942.
The post-war era brought large-scale immigration, suburban expansion, and rising car ownership. Severe floods such as the 1974 flood caused extensive damage and prompted major changes in water management, including the construction of Wivenhoe Dam.
Under the government of Joh Bjelke-Petersen, Queensland experienced far-reaching restrictions on civil liberties, including the effective banning of street marches and extensive police enforcement, conditions that catalysed widespread civil rights protests and student activism. In response, an artistic counter-cultural movement took shape, and Brisbane's cultural scene became one of the earliest punk rock centres.
The end of the Bjelke-Petersen era was followed by a period of civic and political renewal in Brisbane, as reforms arising from the Fitzgerald Inquiry reshaped policing and governance in the city and supported the expansion of cultural institutions, heritage conservation and urban redevelopment. Following Expo 88, the South Brisbane riverfront was redeveloped into the South Bank Parklands, which opened in 1992 and became one of the city's major cultural precincts.