Brisbane's city centre sits in a loop of the Brisbane River, and most of its historic buildings lie within a short walk of each other. This guide covers six of them: City Hall, Anzac Square, the two cathedrals of St John and St Stephen, Parliament House and the City Botanic Gardens. Together they tell how a convict outpost became the capital of Queensland, and all six are stops on our scavenger hunt.
Brisbane City Hall
City Hall faces King George Square. Its foundation stone was laid in 1920, the council moved in from January 1928, and it was officially opened on 8 April 1930. The design came from the architects Hall & Prentice. Behind the columned front lies a round auditorium under a copper dome, which seats up to 1,600 people.
At the end of 2009 the building was closed for a three-year restoration to fix serious structural problems, and it reopened on 6 April 2013. Since then the Museum of Brisbane has had its home inside, and it runs tours of the building and its clock tower. The tower is 64 metres tall, and when it was built its clock faces were the largest in Australia.
- The clock tower: a lift takes you up to an observation platform just above the clock faces, with a view over the city centre.
- The carved tympanum over the main entrance by the Brisbane sculptor Daphne Mayo, which shows the settlement of Queensland. Its imagery has been criticised by Indigenous activists, and the council has said it has no plans to change it.
Anzac Square
Anzac Square, between Ann Street and Adelaide Street, is Queensland's main war memorial. It was dedicated on Armistice Day, 11 November 1930, by the Governor of Queensland, Sir John Goodwin. Its centrepiece is the Shrine of Remembrance, designed by the Sydney architects Buchanan and Cowper, who won a design competition in 1928: a circle of 18 Doric columns in Helidon sandstone on a stepped granite base, inspired by the round temples of ancient Greece.
Inside the shrine, an Eternal Flame has burned in a bronze urn since the day of the dedication. Below it, in the crypt, are the Anzac Square Memorial Galleries, which tell the story of Queenslanders who served in the world wars and other conflicts. They were enlarged and renewed during a restoration of the square that ran from 2014 and was finished in 2019.
- The Eternal Flame in its bronze urn at the centre of the shrine.
- The bottle trees in the square, which commemorate the Queensland regiments of the Light Horse who served in the Boer War of 1899 to 1902.
St John's Cathedral
The Anglican cathedral on Ann Street was designed in the Gothic Revival style by the English architect John Loughborough Pearson; after his death in 1897 his son Frank carried the plans forward. The foundation stone was laid on 22 May 1901 by the Duke of Cornwall and York, the future King George V, and the first stage was consecrated on 28 October 1910. Building went on in stages for almost a century: the final stage was finished in 2009, and the cathedral was reconsecrated on 29 October that year.
- The stone vaulted ceiling high above the nave, which gives the cathedral its long, ringing echo when the organ plays.
- The Deanery next door, built in 1853, where Governor Sir George Bowen read the proclamation that made Queensland a separate colony on 10 December 1859.
St Stephen's Cathedral
A few blocks away on Elizabeth Street stands the Catholic cathedral, the seat of the Archbishop of Brisbane. The first foundation stone was laid on 26 December 1863 for a larger design by Benjamin Backhouse, but that plan never rose above the foundations; the architect R. George Suter designed a smaller church to be built on them. It was consecrated on 17 May 1874, and the front gables and spires were finished in 1884. The walls are mostly of Brisbane tuff, a local volcanic stone.
Beside it stands Old St Stephen's, a small chapel designed by the famous English architect Augustus Pugin and built between 1847 and 1850. It is the oldest Catholic church in Queensland and served as the first cathedral of the Bishop of Brisbane from 1859.
- The stained glass: many windows were made in Munich, and the window above the sanctuary is by the Irish artist Harry Clarke.
Parliament House
Queensland's Parliament House stands at the corner of George and Alice Streets, looking over the City Botanic Gardens. It was designed by the Colonial Architect Charles Tiffin in the French Renaissance style; the foundation stone was laid on 14 July 1865 and the building opened on 4 August 1868, only nine years after Queensland became a colony. The Alice Street wing was added between 1887 and 1889. Queensland's parliament has only one chamber, the Legislative Assembly. Public guided tours run on weekdays; check before you go.
- The sandstone facade and the roofs, covered with copper from Mount Isa since the 1980s.
- The tall Parliamentary Annexe behind the old building, a brutalist block from the late 1970s and early 1980s that shows how much the parliament has grown.
City Botanic Gardens
The City Botanic Gardens fill the tip of the peninsula, bordered by the river on one side and Parliament House and the Gardens Point campus of the Queensland University of Technology on the others. The ground was first used in 1825, when convicts of the Moreton Bay penal settlement grew food crops here. It was chosen as a public garden in 1828, and in 1855 Walter Hill became the first curator of the botanic reserve. Because the gardens lie so close to the river, they have flooded many times, which is one reason Brisbane later created a second botanic garden at Mount Coot-tha.
- The avenue of bunya pines, native Queensland trees planted here in the 1850s.
- The riverside paths at the edge of the gardens, with views of the Story Bridge and the cliffs of Kangaroo Point across the water.
How to see them in one walk
Start at City Hall in King George Square and walk east along Adelaide Street to Anzac Square. Cross Ann Street for St John's Cathedral, then turn along Elizabeth Street for St Stephen's and its old chapel. From there head south towards George Street and Parliament House, and finish in the City Botanic Gardens by the river. The streets are on a grid and the walk is easy, but bring water and a hat on hot days.
See Brisbane with World City Trail
Our Brisbane scavenger hunt turns the city centre into a game you play on your phone. The route links 10 stops, from the Wheel of Brisbane at South Bank to the City Botanic Gardens, and all six places in this guide are stops, along with the Brisbane sign, the Victoria Bridge abutment and Queens Gardens. At each stop you solve a puzzle and learn a story, at your own pace.
There is also a self-guided walking tour and an outdoor escape game in Brisbane, for people who prefer a different format.
Play the Brisbane scavenger hunt →
Take the self-guided walking tour of Brisbane →
Play the outdoor escape game in Brisbane →
Facts checked in October 2026.