Roma Street Parkland covers 16 hectare

Hectare

The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...

s in the centre of Brisbane

Brisbane

Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...

, Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. The Roma Street Parkland is adjacent to Brisbane Transit Centre

Brisbane Transit Centre

The Brisbane Transit Centre, on Roma Street in Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland, Australia, is a multi-mode public transport hub for long-distance bus and rail services, and houses the second-busiest suburban rail in the Brisbane central business district.Opened in 1986, the Brisbane...

 and the Roma Street Station

Roma Street railway station, Brisbane

Roma Street railway station is a major railway station in the Brisbane central business district, the state capital of Queensland, Australia. It was Brisbane's first railway station, opening in 1876...

. There is pedestrian access to the Roma Street Parkland from the Roma Street Station

Roma Street railway station, Brisbane

Roma Street railway station is a major railway station in the Brisbane central business district, the state capital of Queensland, Australia. It was Brisbane's first railway station, opening in 1876...

, as well as from Albert Street, and from the section of the Parkland which used to be called Albert Park, in Wickham Terrace.

There is also a car park area, with road access from the intersection between Wickham Terrace, College Road and Gregory Terrace. Roma Street Parkland is the world's largest subtropical garden in a city centre. The parkland features a variety of themed gardens and recreational areas, with a web of pathways and boardwalks traversing cascading waterways and rocky outcrops, and also in situ artworks by 16 local artists.

History of Roma Street Parkland area

Local Indigenous

Indigenous Australians

Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....

 people used the area for thousands of years conducting meetings and ceremonies.

In 1825 the Roma Street Parkland area was part of the original Brisbane

Brisbane

Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...

 settlement. In 1875 a terminal station in Roma Street was constructed as part of the main western railway to Brisbane linking Ipswich

Ipswich, Queensland

Ipswich is a city in South-East Queensland, Australia. Situated along the Bremer River Valley approximately 40 kilometres away from the state's capital Brisbane. The suburb by the same name forms the city's Central Business District and administrative centre...

 and Toowoomba

Toowoomba, Queensland

Toowoomba is a city in Southern Queensland, Australia. It is located west of Queensland's capital city, Brisbane. With an estimated district population of 128,600, Toowoomba is Australia's second largest inland city and its largest non-capital inland city...

.

The terminal grew to become a major goods yard for Brisbane and, between 1911 and 1934, the area was extensively redeveloped to support its increase in services. In 1920 extensive excavation, removing 554,300 cubic meters of earth, permanently altered the steep terrain creating the current day artificial escarpment and the boundary of the former Albert Park. During World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, the terminal was vital for transporting war materials and military personnel north.

Continuing to grow, the Roma Street Station was redeveloped to service a metropolitan and long-distance train network. Because of limitations of the site revealed through the increasing mechanization of freight handling and the use of containers, the facility was eventually relocated to Acacia Ridge in 1991.

Construction began of the current Parkland in 2000 and the parkland opened to the public in 2001. The complex legal issues were handled by Freehills

Freehills

Freehills is a commercial law firm that operates in the Asia-Pacific region. In Australia it is considered one of the 'Big Six' law firms.-Offices:Freehills has offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane in Australia...

 partners Michael Back

Michael Back

Michael Back BA Hons LLB Hons Syd, is an Australian lawyer. He is a senior partner of Freehills and head of their Brisbane, Queensland office. He is an environmental and planning law specialist.-Early Life and Education:...

 and Christopher Blue. The project won its first award before it had opened: a commendation in the Cement and Concrete Association of Australia Streetsmart awards for the innovative concrete finishes created by the use of coloured concrete and an apparently random pattern of rough cast concrete generated by the formworkers which makes the finish appear to change through the day depending on the angle of the sun and the length of shadows cast by the detailing on the walls. The technique was created through a design and construction collaboration between project designers PARC managing contractor Abigroup and the Queensland Department of Public Works.

Amphitheatre

Roma Street Parkland has an open air amphitheatre

Amphitheatre

An amphitheatre is an open-air venue used for entertainment and performances.There are two similar, but distinct, types of structure for which the word "amphitheatre" is used: Ancient Roman amphitheatres were large central performance spaces surrounded by ascending seating, and were commonly used...

, previously called the Albert Park Amphitheatre, which had been a feature of Albert Park for a number of decades before the Roma Street Parkland was established.

Plays

Play (theatre)

A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...

 are performed at the Amphitheatre by the Queensland Theatre Company

Queensland Theatre Company

The Queensland Theatre Company was established in 1970 as the Royal Queensland Theatre Company. The Company is the state's flagship professional theatre company, headed up by multi-award winning playwright and director Wesley Enoch...

, and the Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble

Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble

The Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble is an Australian theatre company. It is based in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, and is the resident theatre company of the University of Queensland.-Mission and Vision:...

, as well as by other theatre groups, with many plays by William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...

 having been performed at the amphithreatre.

Other theatre

Theatre

Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...

 productions, including orchestral concerts, have also been performed there. One such concert, in which the music was by Johann Strauss

Johann Strauss II

Johann Strauss II , also known as Johann Baptist Strauss or Johann Strauss, Jr., the Younger, or the Son , was an Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas. He composed over 500 waltzes, polkas, quadrilles, and other types of dance music, as well as several operettas...

, was called "Strauss Beneath the Stars", which was presented in October, 1983.

During a night-time performance, at the Albert Park Amphitheatre, of William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...

's play, "Much Ado About Nothing

Much Ado About Nothing

Much Ado About Nothing is a comedy written by William Shakespeare about two pairs of lovers, Benedick and Beatrice, and Claudio and Hero....

" (which had been reset in Messina over eight days during July, 1936), an airliner flew over the amphitheatre. Bille Brown

Bille Brown

Bille Brown, AM is an Australian Shakespearean actor and acclaimed writer of plays.Brown was born in Biloela, Queensland and studied drama at the University of Queensland where he received and Honorary Doctorate of Letters...

, who was alone on stage at the time in the character of Benedick, stopped his soliloquy in mid-sentence and walked to the edge of the stage and looked up at the airliner. He then looked directly at the audience and said "reassuringly": It's okay, it's one of ours - Alitalia

Alitalia

Alitalia - Linee Aeree Italiane S.p.A. , in its later stages known as Alitalia - Linee Aeree Italiane S.p.A. in Extraordinary Administration, was the former Italian flag carrier...

!.

The Lord Mayor's Christmas Carols, Brisbane's Carols by Candlelight

Carols by Candlelight

Carols by Candlelight is an Australian Christmas tradition that originated in southeastern Australia in the 19th century and was popularised in Melbourne in the 1930s. The tradition has since spread around the world. It involves people gathering, usually outdoors in a park, to sing carols by...

 concerts, were held at the Albert Park Amphitheatre before the River Stage was built in the grounds of the Brisbane City Botanic Gardens

Brisbane City Botanic Gardens

The 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...

.

External links

• Roma Street Parkland - Official website
• Roma Street Parkland - History of Roma Street Parkland
• Roma Street Parkland - Historical overview of Roma Street Parkland (.pdf file)