Reddacliff Place

When Brisbane Square isn’t acting as a thoroughfare for passerby travelling to and from South Brisbane, there’s always an exciting new event taking place.
On every Wednesday, you’ll find the Queen St Farmer’s Market, and on every Saturday of the month, you’ll see stall holders setting up their wares for the Suitcase Rummage. On some nights you’ll find crowds huddled around salsa dancers. And every night you will find the pan steel busker singing and busting his guts out for a dollar outside the Treasury Casino.
The Brisbane Square is also a great area to rest your feet after a long day shopping if you just can’t bear to summon the energy to drag yourself to a park. There are shaded areas by the library where you can kick back with a sub from subway, or some sushi and a bubble tea.

Brisbane Square used to be what we all considered a park — but it was never a park, just a vacant lot owned by developers that was used as a thoroughfare /​lunch spot by city workers. Due to this I was pretty relieved when I saw there’s still plenty of public space after the development was completed (I also thought it was pretty nice of them to let it be a park while they were figuring out what to do with it).
The Brisbane City Council and Brisbane City Library are pretty big tenants, along with Suncorp bank, so that has probably influenced the amount of public use.
There’s no more grass, but there are great community markets and plenty of benches to eat your lunch if you need a fresh air break. It’s also pretty much right on the river if you feel like taking a stroll afterwards.

In recent years, Brisbane has undergone a city wide upheaval. Once upon a time, where Brisbane Square stands now used to be a park. A nice humble square of grass that bordered the mayhem of the Queen Street Mall. It was a lovely place to go to roll around in the grass, take a short time out, or to meet someone. I fondly remember a couple of protests I went to there as well. When the bob cats and bulldozers moved in and tore up the grass, I was furious. I was convinced it was another case of tearing up public space for commerical ventures.
I had a mixed reaction when Brisbane Square was unveiled. There was no greenery anywhere. Some eateries (Coffee Club is one of them, no less) and a few shops had opened up. I was right! However, to soften the blow of losing a beloved park, they had built a state of the art library there, and had installed some recycled public art works there. I don’t exactly know what they are, but they look like old school colanders that have been welded together into giant balls. They are scattered throughout the square and are actually pretty cool. You can climb up on top of the big ones and chill slightly above the rest of the city goers.
The Brisbane City Library is famous now. It’s a dominant feature of the city scape, thanks to those giant lego block architectural features. The facilities are fantastic, it’s all brand new, spick and span, and it has a café inside for when your brain and eyes want to zone out from all the reading you’re getting into.
As a side note, Brisbane Square becomes a market place on Wednesdays. It’s the best for having a deliciously tasty lunch, or getting your farm fresh fruit and veggies while you’re in city centre. Bonus!
So it turns out that Brisbane Square, despite there being no grass, is still a great place to take a reprieve from inner city hustle. Now, when a friend calls to ask where to meet them, I will usually reply that I’ll be sitting on one of the balls in Brisbane Square.