Welcome to �Brizzy� as the Aussies call Brisbane � the capital city of Queensland. Brisbane is Australia�s third largest city (after Sydney and Melbourne), and scatters her 1.4 million inhabitants so effectively over a series of low hills that sometimes it is easy to forget that it�s situated on a river. The city stands on the banks of the winding Brisbane River just inland from Moreton Bay. [see map of Brisbane] For a long while, Brisbane was regarded as provincial backwater or �the world�s biggest country town�. Since the 1980s, Brisbane has embraced the idea of progress and is now a wealthy and cosmopolitan urban centre, though it still retains something of a country heart and country morality.

Brisbane was founded in 1824 from a nightmarish beginning as a convict settlement for the �hardest cases� from Sydney. It was named after Sir Thomas Brisbane, then the Governor of New South Wales. Modern Brisbane displays few reminders of those convict days, save perhaps the Old Windmill built in 1828. Because of a fundamental design flaw it never worked as a windmill, and 25 convicts at a time were put to work turning a treadmill which became known as the �tower of torture�. For special punishments, 16 convicts were kept on it for 14 hours straight.

Well, let us take you through a quick [virtual tour of Brisbane].

BOOK BRISBANE TOURS.

BOOK GOLDCOAST,QUEENSLAND TOURS.

	Learn more. Checkout this video from Panorama Australia !
	Title: Brisbane - Australia's Sunshine City
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