Roma Street Parkland

Local Indigenous people used the area for thousands of years conducting meetings and ceremonies.

In 1825 the Roma Street Parkland area was part of the original Brisbane settlement. In 1875 a railway terminal station in Roma Street was constructed as part of the Main Line railway linking Brisbane to Ipswich and Toowoomba.

The terminal grew to become a major goods yard for Brisbane and, between 1911 and 1934, the area was extensively redeveloped to support its increase in services. In 1920 extensive excavation, removing 554,300 cubic meters of earth, permanently altered the steep terrain creating the current day artificial escarpment and the boundary of the former Albert Park. During World War II, the terminal was vital for transporting war materials and military personnel north.

Continuing to grow, the Roma Street railway station was redeveloped to service a metropolitan and long-distance train network. Because of limitations of the site revealed through the increasing mechanization of freight handling and the use of containers, the facility was eventually relocated to Acacia Ridge in 1991.

In February 1995, State Premier Wayne Goss announced the railway goods yard would be redeveloped as parkland.[3] Construction began in 2000 with the parkland opened to the public in 2001.[4] The project won its first award before it had opened: a commendation in the Cement and Concrete Association of Australia Streetsmart awards for the innovative concrete finishes created by the use of coloured concrete and an apparently random pattern of rough cast concrete generated by the formworkers which makes the finish appear to change through the day depending on the angle of the sun and the length of shadows cast by the detailing on the walls. The technique was created through a design and construction collaboration between project designers PARC managing contractor Abigroup and the Queensland Department of Public Works.[5]

Roma Street Parkland and Amphitheatre

Roma Street Parkland has an open air amphitheatre, previously called the Albert Park Amphitheatre, which had been a feature of Albert Park for a number of decades before the Roma Street Parkland was established.

Outdoor film exhibitor, Moonlight Cinema holds a licence to operate an outdoor cinema experience within the park; offering hot food, beverages, film festivals, and many other activities during summer months annually.

Plays are performed at the Amphitheatre by the Queensland Theatre Company, and the Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble, as well as by other theatre groups, with many plays by William Shakespeare having been performed at the amphitheatre.[6]

Other theatre productions, including orchestral concerts, have also been performed there. One such concert, in which the music was by Johann Strauss, was called "Strauss Beneath the Stars", which was presented in October 1983.

The Lord Mayor's Christmas Carols, Brisbane's Carols by Candlelight concerts, were held at the Albert Park Amphitheatre before Riverstage was built in the City Botanic Gardens.

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  Mosaic map of the park
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  Map of the park
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  Fern Gully
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  Water feature
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  Eastern water dragon in the park.
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  Rainbow lorikeet (Trichoglossus haematodus) in the parklands.
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  Juvenile Eastern water dragon in the park.
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  Common brushtail possum in the park.
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  Black flying fox - Pteropus alecto - feeding on a palm tree in the parklands.
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  Cuddles the Carpet Python local resident in the Spectacle Garden.
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  Roma Street Parklands in c. 2000 before construction began

• List of parks in Brisbane

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Roma Street Parkland.

• Roma Street Parkland – Official website
• Roma Street Parkland – History of Roma Street Parkland
• "BRISBANE PARKS AND RESERVES". The Brisbane Courier. National Library of Australia. 13 July 1886. p. 5. — Description of Albert Park in 1886