Jacaranda trees, New Farm Park and surrounds; Brisbane

Prior to European settlement, the New Farm area was covered with bush and dotted with shallow lagoons, supporting a variety of wildlife and being a bountiful resource to local Indigenous Australians. The area was called ‘Binkin-ba’ meaning place of the land tortoise.

The changing land use in and around New Farm Park from Indigenous Australian resource, to convict farm, to tenant farming, to racecourse, to elite residences, to suburban subdivision, and finally to parkland, demonstrates the evolution of Queensland’s history, and the process of the creation of open spaces as an area's population grew.

New Farm Park, which is on the land of the Turrbal people, currently covers 15.0076 hectares of land, and is bounded by Brunswick Street and Sydney Street, New Farm. It adjoins the Brisbane Powerhouse arts precinct and the Brisbane River. (Text: Qld State Archives)