Brisbane ( ) is the state capital of Queensland. Brisbane is the third most populous city in Australia and the most populous city of Queensland. It is situated on the Brisbane River on a low-lying floodplain between Moreton Bay and the Great Dividing Range in south-eastern Queensland. The local indigenous people knew the area as Mian-jin, meaning 'place shaped as a spike'. The city is named after Sir Thomas Brisbane, the Governor of New South Wales from 1821 to 1825.

The settlement at Brisbane developed after an abandoned initial penal colony settlement at Redcliffe, north. The colony moved to the current location of the Brisbane central business district in 1825, and free settlers were permitted from 1842. It was chosen as the capital when Queensland was proclaimed a separate colony in 1859.

Brisbane is controlled by the Brisbane City Council. In 1925, the City of Brisbane Act was passed by the Queensland Government, abolishing 20 local government authorities in the city and forming the largest local authority in Australia, with a population of over a million.

The city played a central role in the Allied campaign during World War II as the South West Pacific headquarters for General Douglas MacArthur.

More recently, Brisbane hosted the 1982 Commonwealth Games, World Expo '88 and the 2001 Goodwill Games. The city was unsuccessful in its bid to host the 1992 Olympic Games.

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History

Main: History of Brisbane

The Moreton Bay area was initially explored by Matthew Flinders, landing and naming "Red Cliff Point" – after the red-coloured cliffs visible from the bay, known today as Woody Point – on 17 July 1799. In 1823, Governor of New South Wales, Thomas Brisbane, instructed that a new northern penal settlement be developed, and an exploration party led by John Oxley further explored Moreton Bay. Oxley discovered, named and sailed up the Brisbane River as far as Goodna, some upstream from the Brisbane central business district. Oxley recommended Red Cliff Point for the new colony, reporting that ships could land at any tide and easily get close to the shore. The party settled in Redcliffe on 13 September 1824, under the command of Lieutenant Henry Miller with 14 soldiers, some with wives and children, and 29 convicts. However, this settlement was abandoned after one year and the colony was moved to a site on the Brisbane River now known as North Quay, south, that offered a more reliable water supply. Chief Justice Forbes gave the new settlement the name of Edenglassie before it was named Brisbane. Non-convict European settlement of the Brisbane region commenced in 1838.