Sights in Brisbane
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Treasury Building
At the western end of the Queen St Mall is the magnificent Italian Renaissance–style Treasury Building. Behind the lavish facade you won't find pin-striped bureaucrats and tax collectors, but rather spruikers and an entirely different kind of money spinner: Brisbane's 24-hour casino.
Opposite the casino across a grassy plaza stands the equally gorgeous former Land Administration Building, which has been converted to the five-star Treasury hotel.
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Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary
A 35-minute bus ride south of the city centre, Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary is set in attractive parklands beside the river. It is home to 130 or so koalas, as well as kangaroos, possums and wombats. The koalas are undeniably cute and most visitors readily cough up the $16 to have their picture taken hugging one.
To get here catch bus 430 ($4.70, 43 minutes, hourly), which leaves from the Queen St bus station. Alternatively, Mirimar II cruises to the sanctuary along the Brisbane River from North Quay, next to Victoria Bridge. It departs daily at 10am, returning from Lone Pine at 1.45pm.
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South Bank Parklands
This beautiful smear of green park, skirting the western side of the Brisbane River, is home to cultural attractions, fine eateries, small rainforests, hidden lawns and gorgeous flora. The standout attractions here are Streets Beach, a funky artificial beach resembling a tropical lagoon, and, behind the beach, Stanley Street Plaza, a renovated section of historic Stanley St, with shops, cafes and a tourist information centre.
On the eastern edge of the parklands is the Queensland Maritime Museum, which has a wide-ranging display of maritime adventures (and misadventures) along the coast. It's worth shelling out a little extra to tour the dry dock – the museum highlight is…
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Sciencentre
Often packed with school kids is the Queensland Museum's very fun Sciencentre, a hands-on science exhibit with interactive displays and optical illusions. Blast out of the blocks and check your speed in the 10m interactive dash or make your own whirlpool at the water world exhibits – it's an educational funhouse.
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St John’s Cathedral
East of Roma St Parkland heading towards Fortitude Valley is St John’sCathedral, a fine example of 19th-century Gothic Revival architecture. The building was recently completed according to its original design, 102 years after construction commenced.
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Brisbane Forest Park Information Centre
North-west of Brisbane lies the D'Aguilar Range, which includes Brisbane Forest Park. Hidden within this 28,500 hectare natural bushland are remote gorges, expanses of subtropical rainforest and scribbly-gum woodland. The birdlife is prolific and Brisbanites come here by the dozen to take advantage of this natural playground. There are numerous walking trails varying in length and degree of difficulty. The Information Centre sits at the park entrance and has information about bush camping (per person/family $5/19) and maps of walking trails, but it does not sell camping permits. If you plan to camp then you must get your permit through the EPA (ph 13 13 04;…
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Mt Coot-tha Reserve
A short drive or bus ride from the city, this huge bush reserve and parkland has an excellent botanic garden, a planetarium, eateries and a superb lookout over the city. On a clear day you can see the Moreton Bay islands. The lookout is accessed via Samuel Griffith Dr and has wheelchair access.
Just north of the road to the lookout, on Samuel Griffith Dr, is the turn-off to JC Slaughter Falls, reached by a short walking track, plus a 1.5km Aboriginal Art Trail, which takes you past eight art sites with works by local Aboriginal artists.
The pleasant Brisbane Botanic Gardens has a plethora of mini ecologies, which include cactus, Japanese and herb gardens, rainforests, and…
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Alma Park Zoo
This friendly zoo lies 28km north of the city centre off the Bruce Hwy (exit Boundary Rd) and is home to a large number of exotic and Australian animals. You can enter the koala enclosure at 2.30pm daily and take as many photos as you like for free, and if you’re brave, hold a snake or baby crocodile at the reptile presentation (11.30am and 3pm). Baboons, a Malaysian sun bear and the latest addition of ring-tailed lemurs all hail from foreign shores. You can touch and feed many of the animals between 11am and 3pm – animal feed bags cost $3.
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City Botanic Gardens
The spacious City Botanic Gardens is a regular chill-out spot for CBD workers and students craving fresh air and beautiful views of the Kangaroo Point cliffs. Set alongside a curve in the Brisbane River, the gardens form Brisbane’s oldest park and are filled with walking trails, green lawns, bamboo gardens, bunya pines, macadamia trees and Moreton Bay figs. The pretty Mangrove Boardwalk, a wooden walkway skirting the riverbank on the eastern rim, is lit up until midnight, affording good opportunities to spot possums.
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Queensland Cultural Centre
On South Bank, just over Victoria Bridge from the CBD, the Queensland Cultural Centre is the epicentre of Brisbane's cultural confluence. It's a huge compound that includes a concert and theatre venue, four museums and the Queensland State Library.
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Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium
At the entrance to the Brisbane Botanic Gardens is the Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium, the only stand-alone planetarium in Australia and a wonderland for budding Neil Armstrongs. The observatory has a variety of telescopes and one of the resident astronomers can help pinpoint stars and intergalactic beings. There are also regular shows inside the Cosmic Skydome, which journey into outer space and are narrated by the likes of Harrison Ford and Ewan McGregor.
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Brisbane City Hall
The majestic old Brisbane City Hall, opened in 1930, is slowly sinking and suffering concrete cancer. In January 2010, it closed for three years for critical restoration work. Savour what you can from the outside; the four clock faces on each side of the tower are the largest in Australia and, until the Sydney Opera House was completed in 1971, Brisbane’s City Hall was the most expensive building in the country. It was the tallest building in the city until 1973.
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Queensland Museum
An entrée to Queensland’s history and cultural identity, the Queensland Museum houses a diverse range of displays including the Discover Queensland exhibition and the Museum Zoo, which houses over 700 prehistoric and modern animals from dung beetles to dinosaurs. Upstairs, there’s a sobering display on Australia’s endangered species and on the 4th floor is the museum’s Dandiiri Maiwar Aboriginal and Torres Straits Islander Cultures Centre.
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Queensland Gallery of Modern Art
The world-class Queensland Gallery of Modern Art is the nation’s largest modern art gallery, focusing on art, including cinematic and multimedia, from the last 30 years. Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol temporary exhibitions have been major attractions for the gallery since its opening, creating renewed excitement about Brisbane’s arts scene. Eye-opening permanent displays include a life-size statue of a seal balancing a piano on its nose.
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Brunswick St Mall
Fortitude Valley has long been home to prostitutes and junkies, and later musicians as a live music scene took hold. These days it's an eclectic mix of the down and out and upwardly mobile, the yuppies' backyard and clubbers' playground. The heart of the Valley is Brunswick St Mall, a pedestrianised arcade where coffee shops thrive by day and bars buzz at night. On Saturday mornings bleary-eyed shoppers congregate for the Brunswick St Markets.
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Brisbane Powerhouse
On the eastern fringes of New Farm Park stands the Powerhouse, a former power station that's been superbly transformed into a contemporary arts centre. It hosts a range of visual arts and music performances (many free), and has two restaurants with great river views.
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Museum of Brisbane
Around the corner from City Hall, this museum illuminates the city from a wide variety of viewpoints, with interactive exhibits that explore both social history and the current cultural landscape.
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Parliament House
This French Renaissance–style building dates from 1868 and is one of Brisbane's treasured historical landmarks. Free tours leave on demand from 9am to 4pm Monday to Friday.
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Brisbane Botanic Gardens
At the foot of Mt Coot-tha are the lush Brisbane Botanic Gardens, which extend for 52 hectares and include over 20,000 species of plants. It’s a wonderful spot for a picnic (there are shaded areas and toilets) or ideal for simply wandering through the many gardens. Highlights include the fragrant plant and herb garden, tropical dome and bonsai house.
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Footsteps Gallery
Housed within the old School of Arts, a short walk east of King George Sq, is the Footsteps Gallery, established to support emerging artists from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. It hosts monthly exhibitions of Indigenous art and is one of the better spots for purchasing handmade Aboriginal souvenirs.
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QUT Art Museum
In the grounds of QUT is this museum, which has regularly changing exhibits of contemporary Australian art and works by Brisbane art students. Next door is Old Government House, a beautiful colonnaded building dating from 1860 and now the home of the National Trust.
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Newstead House
Occupying a beautiful hilltop spot near the Brisbane River is the city’s oldest domestic dwelling, picturesque Newstead House. Built in 1846, the house is now a museum and the rooms are decorated with Victorian furnishings, antiques and period displays. The surrounding lawns offer lovely river views.
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Roma Street Parkland
The 16-hectare Roma St Parkland is one of the world's largest subtropical urban gardens. Formerly the site of a market and later a railway yard, the parkland features 40 varieties of Australian native trees, a lake, three waterfalls, a playground and public barbecues.
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Old Windmill & Observatory
In Wickham Park, near Central Station, stands the Old Windmill & Observatory that was first constructed by convicts as a mill for grinding corn. Built in 1828 it's just a fraction older than the Commissariat Stores, making it the oldest surviving building in Brisbane. It is closed to the public.
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New Farm Park
New Farm, just east of the Valley along Brunswick St, is the latest neighbourhood to undergo gentrification and is now bursting with coffee shops, wine bars and restaurants. At weekends, all action centres on New Farm Park, a lovely, open parkland with playgrounds and picnic areas.
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