Brisbane, Australia.
Photo Courtesy of Jukefield
Long misunderstood as a cultural backwater, the city of Brisbane has emerged as one Australia's most dynamic cities in recent years, drawing visitors from all over the world with its warm sub-tropical climate, dynamic music scene and an ever expanding multicultural culinary circuit.
Brisbane was once a place to escape for many who resided here in the later half of the 20th century. The on-going incumbency of a draconian provincial government and the oppressive authoritarianism of a rogue police force saw this sleepy river city whither in its 300 days of sunshine, with electoral disenfranchisement and widespread corruption plaguing the city throughout the 1970's and 80's, resulting in the carving up of inner-city neighbourhoods and destruction of culturally significant buildings in the name of development.
Naturally, this oppressive nanny state manifested in a counter-cultural rebellion, with the emergence of a hard and fast music scene in the city’s nightlife hubs of Fortitude Valley and the more laid back West End gaining Brisbane a reputation for one of the most dynamic music scenes in Australia.
Much has changed since the days of Brisbane’s cultural dark age, as the turn of the century saw a proliferation of migration into the city, with the lure of cheap rent, a warm sub-tropical climate and a laid-back lifestyle providing a necessary refuge for southern Australians and a growing international community.
The legacy of post-war planning has seen Brisbane sprawl into the ever-expanding suburbs, but this has enabled the growth of migratory pockets, with the southern suburbs of the city bustling with immigrant communities from all over Asia (Sunnybank, Darra, Inala), Africa (Moorooka, Annerley) and the Middle East (Mt Gravatt), providing a mouth-watering mix of culinary options all accessible by Brisbane’s expanding (albeit expensive) public transport system. The once decrepit inner suburbs have rapidly gentrified, with an abundance of cafés, bars and restaurants lining the streets of traditional hotspots West End and Paddington, whilst expanding into up and coming areas such as Stones Corner and Woolloongabba.
Brisbane is no longer just a transit point for tourists to visit the famed beaches of the Gold Coast. It has emerged as a destination in its own right, a city that breathes within the skin of itself, where the scars of the ill-considered past live on in the congested highways and endless suburban sprawl, yet somehow produce something to be desired, a population without pretension, where the knowledge of the city's failings are embraced and held with pride. Brisbanite's know where they are, there is no illusion of place in this town and in many ways that is what makes it a place to be.
Photo Courtesy of Jukefield |
Brisbane was once a place to escape for many who resided here in the later half of the 20th century. The on-going incumbency of a draconian provincial government and the oppressive authoritarianism of a rogue police force saw this sleepy river city whither in its 300 days of sunshine, with electoral disenfranchisement and widespread corruption plaguing the city throughout the 1970's and 80's, resulting in the carving up of inner-city neighbourhoods and destruction of culturally significant buildings in the name of development.
Naturally, this oppressive nanny state manifested in a counter-cultural rebellion, with the emergence of a hard and fast music scene in the city’s nightlife hubs of Fortitude Valley and the more laid back West End gaining Brisbane a reputation for one of the most dynamic music scenes in Australia.
Much has changed since the days of Brisbane’s cultural dark age, as the turn of the century saw a proliferation of migration into the city, with the lure of cheap rent, a warm sub-tropical climate and a laid-back lifestyle providing a necessary refuge for southern Australians and a growing international community.
The legacy of post-war planning has seen Brisbane sprawl into the ever-expanding suburbs, but this has enabled the growth of migratory pockets, with the southern suburbs of the city bustling with immigrant communities from all over Asia (Sunnybank, Darra, Inala), Africa (Moorooka, Annerley) and the Middle East (Mt Gravatt), providing a mouth-watering mix of culinary options all accessible by Brisbane’s expanding (albeit expensive) public transport system. The once decrepit inner suburbs have rapidly gentrified, with an abundance of cafés, bars and restaurants lining the streets of traditional hotspots West End and Paddington, whilst expanding into up and coming areas such as Stones Corner and Woolloongabba.
Brisbane is no longer just a transit point for tourists to visit the famed beaches of the Gold Coast. It has emerged as a destination in its own right, a city that breathes within the skin of itself, where the scars of the ill-considered past live on in the congested highways and endless suburban sprawl, yet somehow produce something to be desired, a population without pretension, where the knowledge of the city's failings are embraced and held with pride. Brisbanite's know where they are, there is no illusion of place in this town and in many ways that is what makes it a place to be.
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