In 1924, the City of Brisbane Act was passed by the Queensland
Parliament, amalgamating the Cities of Brisbane and
South Brisbane; the Towns of Hamilton,
Ithaca, Sandgate, Toowong,
Windsor and Wynnum; and the Shires of Balmoral,
Belmont, Coorparoo,
Enoggera, Kedron, Moggill, Sherwood, Stephens, Taringa,
Tingalpa, Toombul and Yeerongpilly to form the current City of
Greater Brisbane, now known simply as Brisbane City, in 1925. This
series of caches will celebrate these former local goverments and
their amalgamation.
Prior to being opened for free settlement in 1838, Brisbane city
was a penal colony for the toughest of convicts from New South
Wales, and gained a reputation, along with Norfolk Island, of being
very very harsh on the convicts. The British colony of Queensland
was officially separated from New South Wales in 1859, and Brisbane
was chosen as the capital, although Ipswich was an early choice
that was disregarded due to poor access down the river.
However, although it was the capital of Queensland, Brisbane did
not become a city until quite later in 1902. Brisbane's first town
hall was opened in 1864 on Queen St, but by 1882 was considered
inadequate.
The construction of new municipal chambers, however,
was retarded by controversy over the location of the new hall -
Adelaide Street or Petrie Bight. Town Planners and many citizens
favoured the latter site, now Centenary Place, as development of
the Central Business District was expanding northwards. The present
site was chosen, despite its swampy conditions, as it was largely
council land and required minimal resumptions. In 1909 architects
Corrie, Atkinson and McLay designed the new town hall, but their
contract was terminated when Brisbane property owners refused to
sanction the £180 000 loan required for construction.
After two more attempts at getting the project underway, and two
foundation stones, construction was underway in 1924, in time to
handle the newly amalgamated Brisbane City Council
By late 1927 Council staff began to occupy the building
and on 24 January 1928 the first meeting was held in the chambers.
On 8 April 1930 Governor Sir John Goodwin opened the Brisbane City
Hall. It was proclaimed a "symbol of civic pride", "an inspiration
for citizenship" and an "edifice which for grandeur, dignity and
architectural effect was without its peer in the Commonwealth". The
sculpture on the tympanum which depicted the settlement of
Queensland, was crafted by local artist Daphne Mayo. Its unveiling
on 17 December 1930, completed the construction of City
Hall.
More information about Brisbane's history and this building can
be found here:
The cache is fairly obvious and shouldn't be too hard to find,
but stealth will very much be required. You should be able to grab
the cache while reading the foundation stone easily enough.
Bring your own pen. The cache also contains one of the four
clues you will need to find the final cache in this series, which
will be listed when enough of the series have been placed.