Brisbane City Tours

• Took 10 years to build, completed in 1930
• Cost just under £1 million
• Auditorium inspired by Rome’s Pantheon. Contains pipe organ with nearly 4,400 pipes.

Museum of Brisbane (MoB), level 3). Open daily 10:00am–5:00pm. Free

October Exhibits: Artist in Residence: Dylan Bolger

Clock Tower Tours (daily every 15 mins 10:15 – 4:45) Free.

• City Hall was the tallest building in Brisbane for 30 years – could hear the clock chiming from Wynnum (approx. 20 kms away)
• Ride one of Brisbane’s oldest working cage lifts to observation deck
• Book through MoB website. Tour begins at MoB reception (level 3)

City Hall Tours (Mon-Sun 10:30 & 11:30. Fri – Sun 1:30). Free.

• Discover the secrets of Brisbane’s heritage-listed city hall, its restoration and Brisbane’s history
• Book online through MoB website. Leaves from foyer on ground floor

From King George Square, cross Adelaide St to Queen St mall. Turn right towards river.

• The retail hub of Queen Street hasn’t always been a nice place to visit! Convicts and prisoners were once residents here. In 1824 a penal settlement was established in Brisbane for re-offending convicts from NSW.
• Multi-story convict barracks built on right-hand side (completed in 1830).
• Basic accommodation for up to 1,000 convicts.
• Central archway on Queen St led to a walled yard at the rear. In this archway was the flogging triangle where over 11,000 lashes were dispensed
• Queensland’s first legal execution took place in the rear yard in 1830. The convicts had escaped from the settlement; hanged for burglary
• Post-convict era the building was used as Queensland’s first parliament and courthouse (between 1860 and 1868).
• Demolished in 1880 to make way for commercial development

Pass Treasury Building on your left.

• Construction of ‘New Public Offices’ started in 1883
• The 1897 floods completely destroy Victoria Bridge. Celebration of its reopening was held at the Treasury; it becomes a focus for major public events.
• 1901 proclamation of federation is read from a balcony on William St.
• Government department all moved out by 1993. Opens as casino and hotel in 1995.

Pass Queens Garden (with statue of Queen Victoria) and Land Administration Building. On opposite side of William St is Commissariat

• Oldest occupied building in Queensland
• Built by convicts in 1829 as a storage space for provisions for military, convicts and colonists.
• In 1839 the building became a land sales office and immigration depot. Then a police barracks, then government offices, now Historical Society of Qld.

Sky Deck

• Spectacular views of the city. Great place to sit with a coffee or cool drink. Free access via lifts – just follow signs to Skydeck.
• Open daily 6:30 – 10:30pm (midnight Fri – Sat)

Leisure Deck

• 12,000 sqm open-air entertainment area for public use
• Open-air cinema and chill-out space. Access via city-side tower.

Casino

• Gaming area located in the city-side block at the top of the long elevator.
• Operates 24/7.
• Several food and beverage outlets located inside the casino itself.

Restaurants & bars

• A range of restaurants are located on The Terrace, Level 4 (riverside block).

(Mon – Fri 9-4; Sat & Sun 10-4)

• Hoyts cinema group built the theatre in1929 for the new talking movies
• First and only American-style picture palace to be built in Queensland
• Cost over £400,000
• Had a 2,500 seat theatre, 2,040 pipe Wurlitzer organ from New York (now in GoMA), a huge stage, and a bronze chandelier weighing one tonne
• Theatre was demolished but still has original 1929 foyer and grand staircase

*Visitor Information Centre sells, tops up and refunds Go Cards. City Cats and trains also take debit/credit cards (tap on; tap off)