Brisbane


Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the state of Queensland, Australia. As of 2005, the World Gazetteer estimated that Brisbane has a population of 1.8 million, making it the third most populous urban area in Australia, behind Sydney and Melbourne, and the largest municipality.

History
The area now called Brisbane was inhabited before European settlement by the Turrbul and Jagera people whose ancestors originally migrated to the region from across the Torres Strait. In 1823 an exploration party led by John Oxley explored Moreton Bay and sailed up the Brisbane River as far as Goodna, some 20 km upstream from what is now Brisbane's central business district. Brisbane was named in honour of Sir Thomas Brisbane, who was the Governor of New South Wales.
In 1824, the colonial administration of New South Wales decided to establish a penal settlement at what is now Redcliffe, on the shores of Moreton Bay. This settlement was soon closed and moved to the present-day site of Brisbane. Non-convict European settlement of the Brisbane region commenced in 1838.
Queensland was proclaimed a separate colony in June 1859 and Brisbane was chosen as its capital. However, Brisbane was not incorporated as a city until 1902. Over twenty small municipalities and shires were amalgamated to form the City of Greater Brisbane, now known simply as the City of Brisbane, in 1925.
Due to Brisbane's proximity to the South West Pacific Area theatre of the Second World War, the city played a prominent role in the defence of Australia. The city became a temporary home to thousands of Australian and American servicemen. In addition to this, the AMP Building (later called MacArthur Central) was used as the headquarters of General Douglas MacArthur, the chief of the Allied Pacific forces.
Brisbane was host city for the 1982 Commonwealth Games and the World's Fair, Expo '88. These events in the 1980s were accompanied by a scale of public expenditure, construction and diplomacy not previously seen in the state of Queensland. In the decades since, the metropolis has become Australia's fastest growing city through migration from all continents and the Australian states and territories.

Climate
Brisbane has a subtropical climate with hot, moist summers and mild, dry winters. Brisbane is subject to high humidity, mainly from November through to April. Summer thunderstorms are common, and Brisbane frequently experiences hailstorms, cyclonic winds and more recently severe drought during the summer months. January is generally the hottest month, with an average maxium 29 °C (85 °F) and minimum of 21 °C (69 °F), while June is the coldest with temperatures between 20 °C (69°F) and 10 °C (49 °F). The highest recorded temperature in the city was 43.2 °C (109.8 °F) on the 26 January 1940, while the lowest was 2.3 °C (36.1 °F) on the 12 July 1894 and 2 July 1896. [2]
Brisbane has an average annual rainfall of 1146 mm (45.1 in), with January usually the wettest month with a mean rainfall of 160 mm (6.3 in). The wettest day occurred on 21 January with 465 mm (18.3 in) of rain, the highest of any of Australia's capital cities. August and September are the driest months, averaging less than 50 mm per year. From late Spring through to early Autumn, Brisbane may experience severe thunderstorms with large damaging hailstones, torrential rain and destructive winds, some of can exceed 100 km/h. Each year, severe thunderstorms with large hailstorms are responsible for thousands of dollars worth of damage to some Brisbane suburbs.

Public transport
Brisbane has a relatively comprehensive public transport system by Australian standards, with regular services in the inner city and with improving service levels in outer suburb destinations. The services have become increasingly popular due to rising fuel costs. The system consists of a suburban rail network, bus services and ferries. The rail services are operated by CityTrain, a division of Queensland Rail, while the bus system, and the high speed CityCat as well as the Cityferry are operated by Brisbane Transport, a business arm of the Brisbane City Council. Buses that serve the regional areas outside the City of Brisbane boundaries are operated by private sector companies contracted by the State Government.
The CBD, like most cities, serves as the central hub for all public transport services; with Queen Street Bus Station for Buses, Roma Street and Central stations for trains, and North Quay for Ferries. Various smaller transfer hubs, such as the Cultural Centre Busway Station are located at various strategically placed points of public importance and public interest in the city, including the Queensland Cultural Centre, South Bank Parklands and shopping malls which are usually within dense population centres.
The large CityTrain urban rail network consists of 7 suburban lines and covers mostly the west, north and east sides of the city. It also provides the route for an AirTrain service between the City and Brisbane Airport (the AirTrain, itself, is owned by a company). While stretching as far as both coasts, the southern part of the rail network does not enter through any major suburbs or districts. This is mainly due to the placing of major freeways such as the South-East Freeway and the M1 motorway, as well as lack of early planning on southern Brisbane growth. To this day, the easiest way to reach most of the Southern area via public transport is via bus.
To deliver workable public transport to areas outside of the metropolitan train lines, the Busways were established to deliver unrestricted bus travel throughout the southern (and to a lesser note the northern) corridors of the city by providing roads where only buses are permitted. Two busways have opened in recent years in Brisbane — the South-East Busway and the Inner-Northern Busway, with two more busways and new rail lines planned. Public transport has been the only infrastructure that Brisbane has typically always improved and maintained, especially as it struggles to keep up with rapid population growth.
An integrated ticketing system for public transport services has recently been established under the name TransLink. TransLink is a State Government agency responsible for ticketing and the co-ordination of public transport services in the South-East Queensland region. Under the TransLink system, passengers pay common fares on all modes of public transport. TransLink tickets are accepted on both government- and privately-owned buses, trains and ferries. In 2006, Translink will also be introducing a smartcard-based ticketing system, which is currently being trialled in Redcliffe, a city located 30 minutes to the north of Brisbane.
In October, 2005, a 6 month probational period began on 24-hour public transport services, under the name of NightLink.
Two major cab companies operate in Brisbane; Yellow Cabs (whose vehicles are painted orange), and Black and White Cabs. Both companies offer same rate service, as well as pickup from anywhere in the metropolitan and regional areas of Brisbane via bookings or permanent cab ranks. As well as standard taxis, both provide Maxi-Taxis, designed to fit up to 10 people as well disability access. Most cabs now are also fitted with Satellite Navigation and EFTPOS debit/credit card facilities.
Brisbane's massive population growth has seen great strains placed upon South East Queensland's transport system. The State Government and Brisbane City Council have responded with infrastructure plans and increased funding for transportation projects, such as the South-East Queensland Infrastructure Plan and Program. Most of the focus has been placed on expanding current road infrastructure, particularly tunnels and bypasses, as well as improving the public transport system.

Roads
Since Brisbane was never designed to accommodate a large urban population, its road system was planned specifically around large and spacious suburban areas. Densely packed suburbs now rely on several main road corridors that split through and between these areas and provide the only link to the CBD and other areas of Brisbane. Logan Road, Moggill Road, Old Cleveland Road and Gympie Road are but a few of these multi-lane corridors that come out of the CBD and snake through the suburbs. As a result, traffic congestion has become a major problem and it was out of the promise of a new road system, nicknamed TransApex that current Lord Mayor Campbell Newman won his election.
Bypasses such as the very successful Inner City Bypass and the future Airport Link help to circulate traffic away from the city areas and main roads via limited-access roads above the ground that have higher speed limits and exits to particular suburbs. Existing high speed cross-suburban motorways such as the Western Freeway / Centenary Highway and Beaudesert Motorway provide alternative routes to main roads and connect up to main highways and other arterial roads.
In total, the twisting Brisbane River is crossed by seven road bridges, two railway bridges and two pedestrian bridges. Route signage is achieved by means of a system of Metroads, consisting of the most important arterial roads in metropolitan Brisbane including most motorways, and less important State Routes. Multiple freeways connect Brisbane to other cities, including the Pacific Motorway and M1, the Bruce Highway and the Ipswich Motorway, all of which are part of the National Highway System. Brisbane is approximately 1000kms away from Sydney, the closest major capital city.

Airport
Brisbane Airport, owned by the Brisbane Airport Corporation and located north-east of the city, is the biggest airport in Australia in terms of land size. Brisbane Airport is the third busiest in the country, although predictions have been made that it will overtake Melbourne as the second busiest in Australia within the next three years. Separated into domestic and international terminals, Brisbane Airport has frequent passenger and freight flights, providing direct flights to every capital city in Australia as well as most destinations in Asia, Oceania, and the Middle East. The second largest airline in Australia, Virgin Blue Airlines, is headquartered in Brisbane, while other major airlines Qantas and Jetstar both fly from Brisbane Airport.
Considered world class, the airport won Best Privatised Airport of 2005 by the International Air Transport Association IATA. A $280 million dollar upgrade is in the planning stages at the International Terminal. Brisbane's $400 million parallel runway project is close to a reality after a dramatic rise in passenger numbers over the last 3 years, annual passenger numbers in Brisbane expected to reach more than 22 million by 2012 and more than 35 million by 2023.
The AirTrain provides a link between the Domestic and International Terminals at Brisbane Airport and the city, taking approximately 20 minutes to travel from Central Station to the Brisbane Airport stations.
A $58 million dollar Direct Factory Outlet (DFO) shopping mall has opened at Brisbane Airport providing discount shopping within a kilometre of the terminals. The location of the shopping mall, on the only road leading to Brisbane Airport, has been a source of irritation to both airline passengers and discount shoppers alike, with complaints that the resultant heavy traffic, being shared between the two, is causing major traffic delays. According to a letter in the "Courier-Mail" newspaper, this has been especially detrimental for at least one airline passenger, because the traffic delay caused the passenger to be late "checking in" and this consequently caused the passenger to miss the flight that the passenger was booked on.
Archerfield Airport is located in Brisbane's southern suburbs and used only by light aircraft and general aviation. Other local airports can be found at Caboolture and Redcliffe.

Seaports
The Port of Brisbane is located on the lower reaches of the Brisbane River and on Fisherman's Island at the rivers mouth, and is the 3rd most important port in Australia for value of goods [4]. Container freight, sugar, grain, coal and bulk liquids are the major exports. Most of the port facilities are less than three decades old and some are built on reclaimed mangroves and wetlands. Historically, Brisbane's port facilities were located as far upstream as the central business district.
The economic region near the river mouth including the port, airport and refineries is known as the Australia TradeCoast. It is anticipated that 8% or more of Brisbane's jobs will be located here in coming years.

 
From: www.wikipedia.org