Parliament House in
BrisbaneBrisbane is the state capital of the Australian state of Queensland and is the largest city in that state. With an estimated population of approximately 2 million, it is also the third most populous city in Australia....
is the seat of the
Parliament of QueenslandThe Parliament of Queensland is the legislature of Queensland, Australia. According to the state's constitution, the Parliament consists of the Queen and the Legislative Assembly. It is the only unicameral state parliament in the country, the upper chamber, the Legislative Council, having been...
, housing the
Legislative AssemblyThe Queensland Legislative Assembly is the unicameral chamber of the Parliament of Queensland. Elections are held approximately once every three years. Voting is by the Optional Preferential Voting form of the Alternative Vote system...
. It is situated on the corner of
George StreetGeorge Street is a main street located in the Brisbane CBD in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. A major thoroughfare, George Street connects to the Queensland University of Technology as well as the state Botanical Gardens, to the commercial centre of Brisbane, Queen Street and Queen Street Mall.The...
and
Alice StreetAlice Street is a central road in Brisbane, Australia. It is the most southern major road in the city's central business district, running parallel to the other female named streets in the city....
. Parliament House is bordered by the
Queensland University of TechnologyQueensland University of Technology is located in Brisbane, Queensland, and is one of Australia's largest universities.QUT is marketed as "A university for the real world"...
and the
Brisbane City Botanic GardensThe Brisbane City Botanic Gardens is located on a point known as Gardens Point on the Brisbane River adjacent to the central business district of the city of Brisbane. The gardens area has frontages on both Alice Street and George Street.-History:...
.
When
QueenslandQueensland is a state of Australia that occupies the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory to the west, South Australia to the south-west and New South Wales to the south. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
was established as a separate colony from
New South WalesNew South Wales is Australia's most populous state, located in the south-east of the country, north of Victoria, south of Queensland and east of South Australia...
in 1859 its new Parliament met in temporary quarters at the Old Convict Barracks in Queen Street. This facility sufficed whilst the
Queensland GovernmentThe Government of Queensland is commonly known as the "Queensland Government".The form of the Government of Queensland is prescribed in its Constitution, which dates from 1859, although it has been amended many times since then...
directed its funds to the construction of
Government HouseQueensland's first Government House is located at Gardens Point within the grounds of the Queensland University of Technology at the end of George Street in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.-Constructed for Governor Sir George Bowen and Family:...
. It was in 1863 that plans for a new Parliament House were finally selected from an
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
-wide design competition, and in 1864 the foundation stone for the building was laid. The George Street frontage was completed in 1868 in
French RenaissanceFrench Renaissance is a recent term used to describe a cultural and artistic movement in France from the late 15th century to the early 17th century. It is associated with the pan-European Renaissance that many cultural historians believe originated in northern Italy in the fourteenth century...
style; it was built by
Joshua Jeays-Personal Life:Joshua Jeays was born in 1812 in Leicestershire, England.He married Sarah Edwyn in 1838 in Marylebone, Middlesex, England with whom he had a number of children including:* Sarah Jane* Joseph Joshua * Charles Edwyn...
. The original zinc roof was replaced in the 1980's with one constructed from
Mount IsaMount Isa is a city in North-West Queensland, Australia. It came into existence because of the vast mineral deposits found in the area. Mount Isa Mines is one of the most productive single mines in world history—based on combined production of lead, silver, copper and zinc.With a population of...
copperCopper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29.It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is rather soft and malleable and a freshly-exposed surface has a pinkish or peachy color...
. The colonnades were built in 1878 and construction on the Alice Street frontage commenced in 1887. A 22-storey Parliamentary Annexe building was completed in 1979, built within the grounds of the Old Parliament House.
Art exhibitions and other displays are frequently staged in the spacious ground floor areas of the Annexe.
Free public guided tours of the Parliament are available each day. Also, a gift shop, selling souvenirs and memorabilia, is located in the main foyer.
Parliament House was also used as one of the sites for the 1980s Australian series of
Mission: ImpossibleMission: Impossible is an American television series which was created and initially produced by Bruce Geller. It chronicled the missions of a team of secret American government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force...
.
External links