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Roots Earth in Brisbane: audio stories about 44 places

Roots Earth has audio stories about 44 places in Brisbane, Australia, in Oceania. The Brisbane stories are in all seven Roots Earth languages: English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian. The app needs no account: open Brisbane, pick a place on the city's map of places and play. Download a city's audio, then it plays without a connection. The stories are written by local people.

The 44 places are listed below in the order the app shows them, and again further down with their coordinates. The lists were taken from the Roots Earth catalogue on 15 September 2026.

Published 16 September 2026. Markdown: brisbane.md

The 44 places in Brisbane with audio stories

In the order the app shows them.

  1. Story Bridge
  2. Brisbane City Hall
  3. Cathedral of St Stephen
  4. St John's Cathedral
  5. Queensland Museum
  6. Queensland Art Gallery
  7. Gallery of Modern Art
  8. South Bank Parklands
  9. Wheel of Brisbane
  10. Brisbane City Botanic Gardens
  11. Parliament House
  12. Old Government House
  13. Treasury Building
  14. Commissariat Store
  15. Customs House
  16. Queensland Performing Arts Centre
  17. State Library of Queensland
  18. King George Square
  19. ANZAC Square
  20. Shrine of Remembrance
  21. Queen Street Mall
  22. Brisbane Arcade
  23. The Mansions
  24. The Old Windmill
  25. Albert Street Uniting Church
  26. General Post Office
  27. Roma Street Parkland
  28. Mount Coot-tha Lookout
  29. Brisbane Botanic Gardens Mount Coot-tha
  30. Fortitude Valley
  31. West End
  32. Paddington
  33. New Farm
  34. New Farm Park
  35. Spring Hill
  36. Kangaroo Point
  37. Teneriffe
  38. Howard Smith Wharves
  39. Brisbane Powerhouse
  40. Breakfast Creek Hotel
  41. Regatta Hotel
  42. Toowong Cemetery
  43. Boggo Road Gaol
  44. Davies Park

Is there an audio guide for Story Bridge?

Yes. Story Bridge has its audio stories in the Roots Earth app: a short introduction and a deeper story, in English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian.

It is place 1 of the 44 Brisbane places in the app, at -27.4635, 153.0358. Every one of the other 43 places in the list above has the same two stories.

Roots Earth is not a guided tour: you choose the place on the city's map of places and play its story yourself.

How to use Roots Earth in Brisbane

Open Roots Earth and choose Brisbane. The city has its own map of places with all 44 of them on it. Tap the place you are standing in front of, or any other, and play its short introduction or its deeper story. You decide what to listen to and in which order.

You can listen in English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian, and there is no account. Download a city's audio, then it plays without a connection.

In full

All 44 places in Brisbane, in the app's order, with their coordinates.

All 44 places in Brisbane, with coordinates

Every place below has a short introduction and a deeper story in the Roots Earth app, in English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian. The names, the coordinates (latitude, longitude) and the one line descriptions are the app's own catalogue values of 15 September 2026; a place without a line here has none that this page can print.

1. Story Bridge

Coordinates
-27.4635, 153.0358
In one line
Story Bridge is a steel cantilever bridge spanning the Brisbane River, built between 1935 and 1940 to a design by engineer John Bradfield. Its great riveted arms and night floodlighting make it one of the city's defining landmarks.

2. Brisbane City Hall

Coordinates
-27.46885, 153.023602
In one line
Brisbane City Hall is a grand civic building in sandstone, completed in 1930 after a decade of work. Designed by Thomas Hall and George Prentice, it crowns King George Square with a soaring clock tower and houses the Museum of Brisbane.

3. Cathedral of St Stephen

Coordinates
-27.4687, 153.0289
In one line
The Cathedral of St Stephen is Brisbane's Catholic cathedral, a Gothic Revival church begun in 1863 and crowned with twin spires. Beside it stands the tiny old chapel of 1850, the oldest Catholic church in Queensland.

4. St John's Cathedral

Coordinates
-27.46398, 153.030061
In one line
St John's Cathedral is Brisbane's Anglican cathedral, the last great stone Gothic cathedral built in Australia. Begun in 1906 and finished in 2009, it is the country's only fully stone-vaulted cathedral, designed by John Loughborough Pearson.

5. Queensland Museum

Coordinates
-27.473412, 153.01842
In one line
The Queensland Museum is the state's museum of natural history and culture, founded in 1862. Housed in the South Bank Cultural Centre since 1986, it holds dinosaurs, a whale skeleton, and the rare Mephisto tank, the only one of its kind left in the world.

8. South Bank Parklands

Coordinates
-27.4787, 153.0229
In one line
South Bank Parklands is a 17. 5-hectare riverside precinct built on the former World Expo 88 site. Opened in 1992, it blends an inland beach, tropical gardens, and a flower-draped arbour beside the Brisbane River.

9. Wheel of Brisbane

Coordinates
-27.4753178, 153.0208572
In one line
The Wheel of Brisbane is a 60-metre observation wheel at South Bank, erected in 2008 to mark twenty years since World Expo 88. Its 42 enclosed gondolas lift riders above the river for sweeping views of the city.

10. Brisbane City Botanic Gardens

Coordinates
-27.4747, 153.0301
In one line
Brisbane City Botanic Gardens, founded in 1855 by curator Walter Hill, occupy a river bend at Gardens Point. Their heritage avenues of bunya pines and weeping figs shade a landscape cultivated continuously since the convict era.

11. Parliament House

Coordinates
-27.475356, 153.02703
In one line
Queensland's Parliament House, begun in 1864, first occupied in 1868 and finally completed in 1889, was designed by colonial architect Charles Tiffin and is a French Renaissance Revival sandstone landmark. Its colonnades and Mansard roof overlook the Botanic Gardens beside the Brisbane River.

12. Old Government House

Coordinates
-27.4773, 153.0291
In one line
Old Government House, built between 1860 and 1862 to Charles Tiffin's design, was Queensland's first vice-regal residence. The restored sandstone home, now on the QUT campus at Gardens Point, is famed as the birthplace of the lamington.

13. Treasury Building

Coordinates
-27.4716, 153.0236
In one line
Brisbane's Treasury Building, raised in three stages between 1886 and 1928 by architect John James Clark, is a grand Italian Renaissance sandstone landmark. Filling a whole city block, it once housed Queensland's government and later a casino.

14. Commissariat Store

Coordinates
-27.4732, 153.0242
In one line
The Commissariat Store, built by convict labour in 1828 and 1829, is Brisbane's oldest continuously occupied building. A rare survivor of the Moreton Bay penal settlement, the Georgian sandstone store now houses a history museum.

15. Customs House

Coordinates
-27.4654, 153.0311
In one line
Designed by Charles McLay and built by John Petrie and Son, it now hosts events and dining under University of Queensland care.

16. Queensland Performing Arts Centre

Coordinates
-27.475, 153.02
In one line
Queensland's main performing arts complex opened at South Bank in 1985, designed in bold Brutalist concrete by architect Robin Gibson. Its Lyric Theatre, Concert Hall, Playhouse and Cremorne Theatre stage roughly 1,200 performances each year beside the Brisbane River.

17. State Library of Queensland

Coordinates
-27.4709, 153.0177
In one line
Founded in 1896 and rebuilt at South Bank in 2006, Queensland's state library is a contemporary concrete-and-glass landmark by Donovan Hill and Peddle Thorp. Its shaded verandahs and river-facing reading rooms wrap around a mature poinciana tree.

18. King George Square

Coordinates
-27.46833333, 153.02416667
In one line
Brisbane's ceremonial civic square fronts City Hall, renamed for King George V in 1938. Bronze lions, a statue of the king and Speakers' Corner figures mark a plaza long used for rallies, royal visits and public gatherings.

19. ANZAC Square

Coordinates
-27.4665, 153.0266
In one line
Queensland's principal war memorial precinct opened on Armistice Day 1930, linking Ann and Adelaide streets near Central Station. Its landscaped grounds hold the Shrine of Remembrance, memorial galleries, bottle trees and date palms, and statues honouring those who served overseas.

20. Shrine of Remembrance

Coordinates
-27.46633056, 153.02646389
In one line
Brisbane's central war memorial, unveiled on Armistice Day 1930, is a Greek Classical Revival shrine by Sydney architects Buchanan and Cowper. Eighteen Helidon sandstone columns ring the Eternal Flame, with memorial galleries in the crypt below.

21. Queen Street Mall

Coordinates
-27.4696, 153.0252
In one line
Brisbane's pedestrian heart, opened by Queen Elizabeth the Second in 1982, runs roughly 500 metres through the city centre. More than 700 retailers, heritage arcades and a buzzing street-performer scene make it one of Australia's busiest shopping streets.

22. Brisbane Arcade

Coordinates
-27.4689, 153.0253
In one line
Brisbane Arcade is the city's oldest and grandest shopping arcade, a 1924 retail gallery linking Queen and Adelaide Streets. Its central void, cantilevered balconies and wrought-iron railings showcase elegant interwar classical design.

23. The Mansions

Coordinates
-27.4744, 153.0266
In one line
The Mansions is a rare 1889 row of six attached Victorian terraces on George Street, built in red brick with limestone dressings. Two carved stone cats crown its parapet, watching over the city below.

24. The Old Windmill

Coordinates
-27.4657, 153.0231
In one line
The Old Windmill, built by convicts around 1828, is the oldest surviving building in Queensland. This stone tower on Wickham Terrace ground grain for the penal settlement and later served as a signal station and observatory.

25. Albert Street Uniting Church

Coordinates
-27.4678, 153.0238
In one line
Albert Street Uniting Church is a Victorian Gothic Revival church of 1889, designed by George Henry Male Addison. Once the symbolic centre of Queensland Methodism, it features an octagonal spire, rose windows and a decorated pipe organ.

26. General Post Office

Coordinates
-27.468174, 153.028173
In one line
The General Post Office on Queen Street is a Neoclassical landmark of 1872, designed by F. G. D. Stanley and built by John Petrie. Its clock-topped pediment rises above the site of a former female convict factory.

27. Roma Street Parkland

Coordinates
-27.463, 153.019
In one line
Roma Street Parkland is the world's largest subtropical garden in a city centre, opened in 2001 on former railway goods yards. Its 11 hectares hold themed gardens, a lake, cascading waterways and an amphitheatre.

28. Mount Coot-tha Lookout

Coordinates
-27.4848, 152.9592
In one line
Its name comes from an Aboriginal word for honey, and a heritage kiosk and viewing platform have welcomed visitors here since the early 20th century.

29. Brisbane Botanic Gardens Mount Coot-tha

Coordinates
-27.4765, 152.9761
In one line
It gathers rainforest, arid-zone and Japanese collections, a tropical dome and a planetarium roughly seven kilometres from central Brisbane.

30. Fortitude Valley

Coordinates
-27.4566, 153.0372
In one line
Named after the immigrant ship Fortitude, whose settlers arrived in 1849, this Brisbane suburb grew from grand department stores into the city's nightlife heart. In 2005 it became Australia's first Special Entertainment Precinct, protecting its live-music venues.

31. West End

Coordinates
-27.483, 153.0066
In one line
Named after London's West End, this peninsula suburb in a bend of the Brisbane River grew into the city's most multicultural quarter, long the heart of its Greek community. Boundary Street, a colonial-era frontier line, is now its bohemian café spine.

32. Paddington

Coordinates
-27.4594, 153.0011
In one line
Spread across steep ridges west of central Brisbane, Paddington is famous for its timber Queenslander houses and worker's cottages climbing the hills. Once working-class, its ridgetop strips of Latrobe and Given Terraces now hold antique shops, galleries and cafés.

33. New Farm

Coordinates
-27.4677, 153.0483
In one line
On a river peninsula east of central Brisbane, New Farm takes its name from a convict-era farm of 1827. Once Brisbane's Little Italy, it blends grand Queenslanders and art deco apartments with the riverside Powerhouse arts centre and tree-lined New Farm Park.

34. New Farm Park

Coordinates
-27.4692, 153.0512
In one line
Laid out from 1914 on a riverside bend in New Farm, this 15-hectare Edwardian park is famed for its rose gardens and avenues of jacaranda and poinciana. The Brisbane Powerhouse arts centre stands at its eastern edge.

35. Spring Hill

Coordinates
-27.4594, 153.0261
In one line
One of Brisbane's oldest suburbs, Spring Hill rises just north of the city on a ridge once fed by natural springs. Its steep, narrow streets hold nineteenth-century workers' cottages, heritage reservoirs and the colony's old windmill on Wickham Terrace.

36. Kangaroo Point

Coordinates
-27.4747, 153.0386
In one line
A peninsula of ancient volcanic cliffs curling into a bend of the Brisbane River. Once a rowdy industrial quarter of foundries and shipyards, Kangaroo Point is now a riverside neighbourhood beloved by climbers, picnickers and walkers.

37. Teneriffe

Coordinates
-27.4572, 153.045
In one line
A riverside suburb named after a distant volcanic peak, Teneriffe once stored the wool of a continent in towering brick warehouses. Its woolstores and wartime submarine wharves now house apartments, cafes and one of Brisbane's most fashionable addresses.

38. Howard Smith Wharves

Coordinates
-27.463, 153.0369
In one line
A working port built into the cliffs beneath the Story Bridge, abandoned for decades, now reborn as a riverside playground of restaurants, a brewery and a hotel. Howard Smith Wharves blends Depression-era heritage with Brisbane's contemporary leisure life.

39. Brisbane Powerhouse

Coordinates
-27.469069, 153.054362
In one line
A 1920s power station that once drove Brisbane's tramways, left derelict for decades, then reborn in 2000 as a riverside arts centre. The Brisbane Powerhouse keeps its industrial bones, gantry crane and graffiti as a backdrop to theatre and music.

40. Breakfast Creek Hotel

Coordinates
-27.4408, 153.0455
In one line
An ornate French Renaissance pub from 1890 standing where Breakfast Creek meets the river. Famous for steaks, spanner crab and beer poured straight from the wood, the Breakfast Creek Hotel is a beloved Brisbane institution still drawing thirsty crowds.

41. Regatta Hotel

Coordinates
-27.4825, 152.9962
In one line
An 1886 riverside pub at Toowong wrapped in lacy cast iron, designed by Richard Gailey. Famous as the site of a 1965 protest where two women chained themselves to the bar, the Regatta Hotel remains a Brisbane landmark.

42. Toowong Cemetery

Coordinates
-27.4744, 152.9819
In one line
Queensland's largest cemetery, opened in 1875 on a hillside at Toowong. More than 100,000 people rest here, including a governor, premiers and pioneers, amid Victorian monuments, war graves and shaded heritage trails now walked by joggers.

43. Boggo Road Gaol

Coordinates
-27.49512, 153.02842
In one line
Boggo Road Gaol opened in 1883 in Dutton Park and held prisoners until its final section closed in 2000. Its surviving No.

44. Davies Park

Coordinates
-27.47861111, 153.005
In one line
Davies Park is a riverside green in West End, developed as a park in 1901. Long a sporting ground and home of the Souths Magpies, it now hosts one of Greater Brisbane's largest Saturday markets beneath sprawling fig trees.

Roots Earth in short

Roots Earth has audio stories about 5,665 places in 130 cities, 25 countries and 6 regions, written by local people.

  • No account
  • Download a city's audio, then it plays without a connection
  • Audio stories in English and German in every city, and in Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian in 126 of the 130 cities

Roots Earth for Android is available on Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rootsearth.app.