This timeline details the history of the Cultural Centre site from pre-European settlement to today.

Pre-European Settlement

An Aboriginal pathway follows the bank of the Brisbane River through West End and South Brisbane. The pathway is eventually transformed into what becomes Montague Road. At what is now Kurilpa Point, a sandy beach marks the traditional crossing point used by Aboriginal people to cross the river using rock pools and bars. The beach is also a popular swimming area.

1824

Non-Indigenous Europeans begin to use the land south of the Brisbane River.

1829

The South Brisbane area is cleared of vegetation. On occasion the clearing gangs, using hoes, came across the remains of convicts that had gone before them.

1837

Convicts plant and till maize to feed the Moreton Bay penal colony. The crop's yield is patchy.

1841

The sole building is the ferryman's hut, at the approximate location of the Victoria Bridge.

1840s

The site is gazetted as one of the early National Schools, but it is never built.

1842

South Brisbane is no longer exclusively a penal settlement and is opened up to free settlers. South Brisbane's first weatherboard house is built in Grey Street. A ferry begins to operate from a slab hut at South Brisbane and carries passengers, horses and carriages across the river.

1861

South Brisbane is notorious as a low place, not only for its fights and “low-life” drinking places but also because it frequently floods, to the point where Stanley Street is nicknamed Stanley Creek.

1865

A temporary timber bridge is erected from Queen Street to Melbourne Street, linking Brisbane with South Brisbane. It only lasts a few years before collapsing.

1870s

Horses, cows and goats graze along Stanley Street.

1874

The Queen Victoria Bridge, the first permanent bridge linking Brisbane to South Brisbane, is completed at a cost of £140,000.

1880s

Peel Street houses the drill hall and parade ground of the Queensland Defence Forces until the early 1900s.

1893

A major flood destroys the Victoria Bridge and leaves South Brisbane in a mire of foul-smelling mud, half-demolished houses, uprooted telegraph poles and dead animals.

1898

St Helen's Private Hospital is established in a former boarding house and hotel on what is now the State Library of Queensland site. It is one of dozens of private and unregulated hospitals in Brisbane.

1900s

The location of the State Library is the site of the first recorded death by snake bite in the area.

1911

The Cremorne Theatre opens on Stanley Street between Melbourne and Peel Street offering vaudeville, comedy and variety acts and, later, films.

1911

The 1911 Health Act regulates hospitals and St Helen's becomes accredited as a teaching hospital.

1915

The Gravel, Sand and Metal Supply Company establish two plants on the Brisbane River at Stanley Street and Montague Road where Kurilpa Point now stands.

1925

Residential properties are largely displaced by industrial development. Preston & Dalby Consulting & Mechanical Engineers have premises on the corner of Stanley Street and Montague Road which later become home to the Commercial Rowing Club.

1926

Ernest Elms' fruit preserving works occupies a site at the corner of Stanley Street and Montague Road.

1928

Construction of the Grey Street Bridge begins. It is one of the earliest major projects of the newly-formed Brisbane City Council.

1932

The Grey Street Bridge opens.

1950s

'Manhattan Walk', a retail development running between Stanley and Melbourne Streets, fails to attract shoppers.

1954

Cremorne Theatre is destroyed by fire.

1955

Grey Street Bridge is renamed William Jolly Bridge after the death of Lord Mayor Jolly.

1971

Wharves and industrial sites are cleared and planning begins for the Cultural Centre. Almost half the land required for the Queensland Art Gallery, including the site of the old Cremorne Theatre, has been resumed.

1974

The Brisbane flood destroys the part of the State Library of Queensland's collection housed at Grey Street.

1975

The State Government buys the St Helen's Private Hospital and Salvation Army properties and begins planning for the new State Library of Queensland.

1982

Queensland Art Gallery opens.

1985

Queensland Performing Arts Centre opens.

1986

Queensland Museum opens.

1988

State Library of Queensland opens.

1993

Brisbane City Council develops riverside parkland between Grey and Boundary Streets.

1994

Vacated gravel storage areas are paved, landscaped and renamed Kurilpa Point.

May 2004

Construction begins on the Gallery of Modern Art, State Library of Queensland redevelopment and outdoor spaces.

Sept 2004

New entrance to the Queensland Museum and Sciencentre opens.

Nov 2005

A 'topping-off' ceremony signalled the structural completion of the buildings.

Sept 2006

Construction completed and Cultural Centre residents move back in.

Nov 2006

Queensland Art Gallery's Stanley Place entrance is completed.

24 Nov 2006

Premier Peter Beattie officially opens the new State Library of Queensland which reopens to the public on 25 November.

1 Dec 2006

Premier Peter Beattie officially opens the new Gallery of Modern Art.

2 Dec 2006

A People's Day celebration is held to welcome the public back to the Cultural Centre at South Bank.

Feb 2009

Construction commenced on The Edge.

Mar 2009

Redevelopment is completed at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre and opened with 'Chicago' the musical - project overview

May 2009

Renovations are completed at Queensland Art Gallery and opened with the world exclusive American Impressionism and Realism: a landmark exhibition from the Met.

*Research courtesy of ARCHAEO Cultural Heritage Services, State Library of Queensland and Arts Queensland.