Brisbane's best-known landmarks cluster around City Hall and the City Botanic Gardens, but the city has plenty more to show a few streets away. This guide covers seven places that are not on our scavenger hunt route: a convict-built windmill, two grand colonial government buildings, a steel bridge, a volcanic cliff face, a city beach and the galleries of the Cultural Centre. Together they make one walk from Spring Hill down to the river and across to South Bank.
The Old Windmill
On Wickham Terrace in Spring Hill stands the Old Windmill, built by convicts of the Moreton Bay penal settlement in 1828. It is the oldest surviving building in Queensland, and its stone came from the quarry at Kangaroo Point, the same cliffs you will see later on this walk. When the wind dropped, a treadmill attached to the tower kept the millstones turning. Walking it was also a punishment for convicts, and it stayed in use until 1845.
The tower then found new jobs. It became a signal station for shipping in 1855, and from 1861 a time ball dropped from it every day so people could set their clocks, a service that ran until 1930. In 1934 it was the site of a demonstration described as Queensland's first television broadcast. Today the stone tower, without its sails, stands in Observatory Park, right next to Wickham Park.
The Treasury Building
Facing Queens Gardens at the top of Queen Street, the Treasury Building is one of Brisbane's grandest colonial buildings. The Colonial Architect John James Clark designed it in an Italian Renaissance style, and it went up in three stages between 1886 and 1928. It was built as the main government offices of Queensland, home to the Premier, the Cabinet and the Treasury.
From 1995 the building housed a casino. The casino closed in August 2024, when it moved to the new Queen's Wharf complex nearby, and Griffith University then announced it would buy the building for a city campus, planned to open in 2027. While the works go on, enjoy it from the outside: walk along its long arcaded facades and compare them with the other sandstone government buildings around Queens Gardens.
Customs House
At the far end of Queen Street, where the road bends along the river, stands Customs House with its copper-clad dome. It opened in 1889, designed by Charles McLay of the Colonial Architect's Office, and for almost a century this is where duties on goods arriving by ship were collected. When the port moved downstream, the building closed in 1988.
The University of Queensland took it over and restored it between 1991 and 1994, rebuilding the original timber staircase and recreating lost plaster mouldings. Today it hosts a restaurant, events and concerts, and the lower floor, once the bonded Queen's Warehouse, is used as an art gallery. From the riverside in front of the building you get a close view of the Story Bridge.
The Story Bridge
The steel bridge between Fortitude Valley and Kangaroo Point opened on 6 July 1940. It was designed by John Bradfield, the engineer behind the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and it is the longest cantilever bridge in Australia. Its name honours John Douglas Story, a senior public servant who campaigned hard for it to be built.
You can cross it on foot, and since 2005 guided climbs have taken visitors up the steel structure. At night the bridge is lit up, and it is the centrepiece of the Riverfire fireworks every year. A long restoration programme is under way on the bridge, so some footpaths or lanes may be closed; check before you go.
Kangaroo Point Cliffs
Across the river from the City Botanic Gardens, the Kangaroo Point Cliffs are an old quarry face cut into volcanic rock known as Brisbane tuff, formed around 230 million years ago. Convicts began quarrying here around 1826 under Captain Patrick Logan, and the stone went into early buildings such as the Old Windmill and the Commissariat Store. The quarry only closed in 1976.
Today the cliffs are one of Brisbane's favourite outdoor spots. You will often see climbers and abseilers on the rock, and the clifftop path gives wide views over the river and the city skyline. After dark, floodlights light up the cliff face. At the bottom, a riverside park looks across the water to the mangroves along the Botanic Gardens.
South Bank Parklands and Streets Beach
South Bank Parklands occupies the site of World Expo 88 and opened to the public in 1992. Its best-known feature is Streets Beach, a man-made lagoon with a real sandy beach on the riverbank, patrolled by lifeguards all year round. The water is treated fresh water, not sea water, and the sand was brought in from Moreton Bay.
Walk under the Arbour, a long path lined with 443 curling steel columns covered in bougainvillea, and look for the Nepalese Peace Pagoda by the river. The pagoda, with its traditional Nepali architecture and carvings, was part of Expo 88, and when the fair ended a fundraising campaign kept it in Brisbane.
The Queensland Cultural Centre and GOMA
At the upstream end of South Bank, the Queensland Cultural Centre brings the state's main cultural institutions together in low, white concrete buildings designed by Robin Gibson. The Queensland Art Gallery opened here in 1982, the Queensland Performing Arts Centre in 1985 and the Queensland Museum in 1986. The 1980s buildings are listed on the Queensland Heritage Register.
The Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA), on the river at Kurilpa Point, opened in December 2006 and is Australia's largest gallery of modern and contemporary art. Together with the Queensland Art Gallery it hosts the Asia Pacific Triennial, and it also houses the Australian Cinémathèque. Inside the Queensland Art Gallery, look for the Watermall, the long indoor pool at the centre of the building.
How to see them in one walk
Start at the Old Windmill on Wickham Terrace and head downhill through the city centre, past Anzac Square, to the Treasury Building at the top of Queen Street. Follow Queen Street to its riverside end at Customs House, then continue along the river to the Story Bridge. Cross the bridge to Kangaroo Point, walk along the clifftop and down to the water, and follow the riverside path to South Bank for Streets Beach and the Arbour. Finish at the Cultural Centre, where GOMA and the Queensland Art Gallery stand side by side.
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 other landmarks, including the Wheel of Brisbane, Brisbane City Hall, St John's Cathedral and Queensland Parliament, so the places in this guide are good to add before or after the game.
If you prefer a different format, there is also a self-guided walking tour and an outdoor escape game in Brisbane.
Play the Brisbane scavenger hunt →
Take the self-guided walking tour of Brisbane →
Play the outdoor escape game in Brisbane →
Facts checked in November 2026.