In recent years, Brisbane has undergone a city wide upheaval. Once upon a time, where Brisbane Square stands now used to be a park. A nice humble square of grass that bordered the mayhem of the Queen Street Mall. It was a lovely place to go to roll around in the grass, take a short time out, or to meet someone. I fondly remember a couple of protests I went to there as well. When the bob cats and bulldozers moved in and tore up the grass, I was furious. I was convinced it was another case of tearing up public space for commerical ventures.
I had a mixed reaction when Brisbane Square was unveiled. There was no greenery anywhere. Some eateries (Coffee Club is one of them, no less) and a few shops had opened up. I was right! However, to soften the blow of losing a beloved park, they had built a state of the art library there, and had installed some recycled public art works there. I don't exactly know what they are, but they look like old school colanders that have been welded together into giant balls. They are scattered throughout the square and are actually pretty cool. You can climb up on top of the big ones and chill slightly above the rest of the city goers.
The Brisbane City Library is famous now. It's a dominant feature of the city scape, thanks to those giant lego block architectural features. The facilities are fantastic, it's all brand new, spick and span, and it has a cafe inside for when your brain and eyes want to zone out from all the reading you're getting into.
As a side note, Brisbane Square becomes a market place on Wednesdays. It's the best for having a deliciously tasty lunch, or getting your farm fresh fruit and veggies while you're in city centre. Bonus!
So it turns out that Brisbane Square, despite there being no grass, is still a great place to take a reprieve from inner city hustle. Now, when a friend calls to ask where to meet them, I will usually reply that I'll be sitting on one of the balls in Brisbane Square. read more