Australian Travel Content Blog

General Interest Blog about travel

Welcome to Not So Sleepy - Brisbane

October 31st, 2008

The southern approach to Brisbane presents a striking picture: rounding a bend on the Pacific Motorway you see weatherboard stilt houses with red tin rooves on leafy hills, with the thrusting towers of the Central Business District (CBD) beyond.

Crossing Captain Cook Bridge, you catch glimpses of the serpentine Brisbane River, bordered by skyscrapers on one side and lush parkland on the other. It’s hard to believe that, only a few decades ago, this impressive waterway was polluted and neglected. Today’s sparkling river is at the hub of city life and is the pride of Brisbane inhabitants.

It serves as an aquatic highway for ferries connecting riverside suburbs and is the focal point for festivals and celebrations. The motorway follows the river’s edge, swooping above the bank and through luxuriant mangroves — an unexpected sight deep in the heart of Australia’s third-largest city.

Nearly half of Queensland’s population of four million lives within Brisbane’s statistical boundaries — a sprawling 4,700 sq. km (1,800 sq. miles) — one of the reasons why the city’s reputation as the “world’s biggest country town” lingered for so long. Brisbane is the third largest city in the world after Tokyo and Los Angeles and has a budget larger than the state of Tasmania.

The catalysts for change were the 1982 Commonwealth Games and the Expo ‘88 which put Brisbane on the cultural map. These games were a catlyst for the introduction of fast and clean electric trains, late night trading and city malls. Inevitably, something of the city’s laid-back character has been lost in transition from sleepy backwater to cosmopolitan hub.

The new Queenslander may wear board shorts but, in business, he or she is as hard-nosed as anyone from Sydney or Melbourne. More than likely, the new Queenslander is from Sydney or Melbourne. Yet there remains some truth to the old saying: “In Melbourne they ask what school you went to, in Sydney, they ask how much you earn, in Brisbane they ask if you’d like a beer.”

Rough edges remain, but there’s a new sophistication, as evidenced by a healthy restaurant culture and the number of people able to spout knowledgeably about wine. Add Brisbane’s hip young generation to the mix and you have a sassy, confident city.

Young people no longer feel the imperative to leave. This, plus a surge of interstate migration, has caused Brisbane’s population growth to outpace that of every other Australian capital. This fast growth has caused it’s own problems including water shortages, traffic jams and rocketing property prices.

The climate —subtropical summers and mild, sunny winters has undoubtedly played a part but the reasons for Brisbane’s rise are many and complex.

Brisbane’s recognition of the value of its architectural heritage came too late to save many iconic buildings destroyed during the development frenzy of the 1980s. Still, enough historic architecture remains to show what used to be. Many of the city’s distinguished colonial-style residences were wrenched from their stumps in leafy Ascot or Hamilton and relocated, iron-lace and all, to exclusive outer suburbs like Brookfield and Pullenvale.