The City of Brisbane is a local government area (LGA) which comprises the inner portion of Greater Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, Australia. Its governing body is the Brisbane City Council.
The LGAs in the other mainland state capitals (Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide) are generally responsible only for the central business districts and inner neighbourhoods of those cities. However, the City of Brisbane administers a significant portion of the Brisbane Greater Capital City Statistical Area (GCCSA), accounting for just under half its population. As such, it has a larger population than any other local government area in Australia. The City of Brisbane was the first Australian LGA to reach a population of more than one million. Its population is roughly equivalent to the populations of Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory combined. In 2016–2017, the council administered a budget of over $3 billion, by far the largest budget compared to those of the City of Sydney and City of Melbourne LGAs.
The City derives from cities, towns and shires that merged in 1925. The main offices and central library of the council are at 266 George Street, also known as Brisbane Square. Brisbane City Hall houses the Council Chamber, the offices of the Lord Mayor and Deputy Mayor, meeting and reception rooms and the Museum of Brisbane.
In the , the City of Brisbane had a population of 1,242,825 people.
Suburbs The City of Brisbane includes the following settlements:
Inner suburbs
Bardon Bowen Hills Brisbane CBD East Brisbane Fortitude Valley Herston Highgate Hill Kangaroo Point Kelvin Grove New Farm Newstead Paddington Petrie Terrace Red Hill South Brisbane Spring Hill Teneriffe West End Woolloongabba
Total: 19
Northern suburbs
Albion Alderley Ascot Aspley Bald Hills Banyo Boondall Bracken Ridge Bridgeman Downs Brighton Brisbane Airport Carseldine Chermside Chermside West Clayfield Deagon Eagle Farm Everton Park Ferny Grove Fitzgibbon Gaythorne Geebung Gordon Park Grange Hamilton Hendra Kalinga Kedron Keperra Lutwyche McDowall Mitchelton Myrtletown Newmarket Northgate Nudgee Nudgee Beach Nundah Pinkenba Sandgate Shorncliffe Stafford Stafford Heights Taigum Virginia Wavell Heights Wilston Windsor Wooloowin Zillmere
Total: 50
Southern suburbs
Acacia Ridge Algester Annerley Archerfield Burbank Calamvale Coopers Plains Darra Doolandella Drewvale Durack Dutton Park Eight Mile Plains Ellen Grove Fairfield Forest Lake Greenslopes Heathwood Holland Park Holland Park West Inala Karawatha Kuraby Larapinta MacGregor Mackenzie Mansfield Moorooka Mount Gravatt Mount Gravatt East Nathan Pallara Parkinson Richlands Robertson Rochedale Rocklea Runcorn Salisbury Seventeen Mile Rocks Sinnamon Park Stones Corner Stretton Sumner Sunnybank Sunnybank Hills Tarragindi Tennyson Upper Mount Gravatt Wacol Willawong Wishart Yeerongpilly Yeronga
Total: 54
Eastern suburbs
Balmoral Belmont Bulimba Camp Hill Cannon Hill Carina Carina Heights Carindale Chandler Coorparoo Gumdale Hawthorne Hemmant Lota Lytton Manly Manly West Morningside Murarrie Norman Park Port of Brisbane Ransome Seven Hills Tingalpa Wakerley Wynnum Wynnum West
Total: 27
Western suburbs
Anstead Ashgrove Auchenflower Banks Creek Bellbowrie Brookfield Chapel Hill Chelmer Chuwar Corinda England Creek Enoggera Enoggera Reservoir Ferny Grove Fig Tree Pocket Graceville Indooroopilly Jamboree Heights Jindalee Karana Downs Kenmore Kenmore Hills Kholo Lake Manchester Middle Park Milton Moggill Mount Coot-tha Mount Crosby Mount Ommaney Oxley Pinjarra Hills Pullenvale Riverhills Sherwood Sinnamon Park St Lucia Taringa The Gap Toowong Upper Brookfield Upper Kedron Westlake
Total: 43
Moreton Bay
Bulwer Cowan Cowan Kooringal Moreton Bay Moreton Island
Total: 5
History
The Government of Queensland created the City of Brisbane with a view to uniting the Brisbane metropolitan area under a single planning and governance structure. The City of Brisbane Act 1924 received assent from the Governor on 30 October 1924. On 1 October 1925, twenty local government areas of various sizes were abolished and merged into the new city,City of Brisbane Act 1924 (accessed 23 January 2011) namely:
Cities: Brisbane South Brisbane Towns: Hamilton Ithaca Sandgate Toowong Windsor Wynnum Shires: Balmoral Belmont Coorparoo Enoggera Kedron Moggill Sherwood Stephens Taringa Tingalpa Toombul Yeerongpilly
The council also assumed responsibility for several quasi-autonomous government authorities, such as the Brisbane Tramways Trust.
Demographics Selected historical census data for City of Brisbane local government areaCensus year 20012006201120162021Population Estimated residents on census nightLGA rank in terms of size within Queensland 1 1 1 1% of Queensland population 24.37% 24.49% 24.05% 24.05% 24.10%% of Australian population 4.66% 4.82% 4.84% 4.83% 4.88%Cultural and language diversity Ancestry,top responses English 25.0% 24.3% 33.3%Australian 23.1% 20.2% 27.9%Irish 9.5% 9.7% 12.3%Scottish 7.4% 7.4% 10.2%Chinese 4.1% 5.2% 7.7%Language,top responses(other than English) Mandarin1.4% 1.9% 2.6% 4.1% 4.4%Cantonese1.4% 1.4% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5%Vietnamese1.3% 1.4% 1.5% 1.6% 1.7%Italian1.1% 0.9% 0.8% Greek0.8% 0.7% Spanish 0.7% 0.9% 1.1%Korean1.0%Punjabi 1.0%Religious affiliation Religious affiliation,top responses Catholic28.0% 27.1% 26.3% 23.1% 20.7%Anglican19.5% 17.2% 14.8% 11.0% 8.5%No religion15.0% 18.5% 23.3% 31.6% 40.8%Uniting7.8% 6.6% 5.6% 4.0% 2.9%Presbyterian3.7% 3.2% Buddhism 3.0% Median weekly incomes Personal income Median weekly personal income 556 696 770947% of Australian median income 119.3% 120.6% 116.3%117.6%Family income Median weekly family income 1403 1873 20912474% of Australian median income 119.8% 126.5% 120.6%116.6%Household income Median weekly household income 1157 1547 17462068% of Australian median income 112.7% 125.4% 121.4%118.4%Dwelling structure Dwelling type Separate house74.7% 71.9% 70.9% 67.4% 62.6%Semi-detached, terrace or townhouse6.7% 7.9% 9.7% 10.4% 11.3%Flat or apartment17.2% 19.3% 18.8% 21.3% 25.6%
Heritage The Brisbane City Council maintains the Brisbane Local Heritage Register, a list of nominated sites that satisfy the council's heritage criteria.
Governance
The City of Brisbane is governed by the Brisbane City Council, the largest local council in Australia. The Brisbane City Council has its power divided between a lord mayor, a parliamentary-style council of twenty-six councillors representing single-member wards of approximately 30,000 voters (roughly equivalent in size to state electorates), and a civic cabinet comprising the lord mayor, the deputy mayor (drawn from the majority on council) and the chairpersons of the seven standing committees drawn from the membership of council. Due to the City of Brisbane's status as the country's largest LGA, the lord mayor is elected by the largest single-member electorate in Australia. Like all mayors in Queensland, the lord mayor is vested with very broad executive power.
The Brisbane City Council operates under the City of Brisbane Act 2010, while other local governments in Queensland are governed by the Local Government Act 2009. Council meetings are held at Level 2, City Hall, 64 Adelaide Street, Brisbane City every Tuesday at 2pm except during recess and holiday periods. This temporary venue is in use due to the restoration work being performed on the traditional venue Brisbane City Hall. Council Meetings generally open to the public, excluding the Civic Cabinet.
Wards
The city of Brisbane is divided by 26 wards, each of which is represented by a councillor. Elections for these positions are held every four years. delivered a Liberal National Party majority, with the wards of the City of Brisbane represented by the following councillors:
Party Wards Current Chamber (Total 26 Wards) Liberal National Labor Greens Independent
WardPartyCouncillor Bracken Ridge LNP Sandy Landers Calamvale Labor Emily Kim Central LNP Vicki Howard Chandler LNP Ryan Murphy Coorparoo LNP Fiona Cunningham Deagon Labor Jared Cassidy Doboy LNP Lisa Atwood Enoggera LNP Andrew Wines Forest Lake Labor Charles Strunk Hamilton LNP Julia Dixon Holland Park LNP Krista Adams Jamboree LNP Sarah Hutton MacGregor LNP Steven Huang Marchant LNP Fiona Hammond McDowall LNP Tracy Davis Moorooka Labor Steve Griffiths Morningside Labor Lucy Collier Northgate LNP Adam Allan Paddington Greens Seal Chong Wah Pullenvale LNP Greg Adermann Runcorn LNP Kim Marx Tennyson Independent Nicole Johnston The Gabba Greens Trina Massey The Gap LNP Steven Toomey Walter Taylor LNP Penny Wolff Wynnum Manly LNP Alex Givney
Heraldry
The motto of the City of Brisbane is Meliora sequimur, Latin for We aim for better things. The council's corporate slogan is Dedicated to a better Brisbane. The city's colours are blue and gold. Its corporate logo was introduced in 1982 in preparation for the Commonwealth Games hosted in Brisbane that year. It features a stylised version of Brisbane's City Hall which opened in 1930. The city's floral emblems are the (exotic) poinsettia and Brisbane wattle, and its faunal emblems are the graceful tree frog and the koala.
Amenities Brisbane City Council operate libraries in Annerley, Ashgrove, Banyo, Bracken Ridge, Brisbane CBD (Brisbane Square), Bulimba, Carina, Carindale (Westfield Carindale), Chermside, Coopers Plains, Corinda, Everton Park, Fairfield, Upper Mount Gravatt (Garden City), Grange, Hamilton, Holland Park, Inala, Indooroopilly, Kenmore, Mitchelton, Mount Coot-tha (Botanic Gardens), Mount Gravatt, Mount Ommaney, New Farm, Nundah, Sandgate, Stones Corner, Sunnybank Hills, Toowong, West End, Wynnum, and Zillmere. In addition, it operates a mobile library service to Aspley, Bellbowrie, Brighton, Ellen Grove, Forest Lake, Manly West, Mount Crosby and The Gap. There is also a pop-up library that attends community events and festivals, as well as visiting various parks around Brisbane for children's storytime sessions (a list of dates and places is published some months in advance).
Sister cities Brisbane's sister cities are:
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (2009) Auckland, New Zealand (1988) Chongqing, China (2005) Daejeon, South Korea (2002) Hyderabad, India (2010) Kaohsiung, Taiwan (1997) Kobe, Japan (1985) Semarang, Indonesia (1993) Shenzhen, China (1992)
Nice, France was formerly a sister city of Brisbane until the relationship was severed in 1995 as protest against the Chirac government's decision to resume nuclear testing in the Pacific Ocean. Bangkok became a sister city of Brisbane in 1997, but the partnership ended in 2017 at the latest.
See also Lord Mayor of Brisbane List of mayors and lord mayors of Brisbane Local government in Australia
Notes
References
External links
Brisbane City Council's Organisational Structure
Google map of pre 1925 merger Brisbane Councils