Brisbane Once Had an Amusement Park… with Tigers!
Forget Dreamworld - 137 years ago, Brisbane had its very own extraordinary amusement park at Hemmant!
Opened on 7 August 1889, the Queensport Aquarium and Zoological Garden was far more than an aquarium. It is regarded as Queensland’s first amusement park, combining exotic animals, fairground rides, sporting grounds, concerts, dancing, boating and spectacular evening entertainment.
And the animal collection was something else!
Visitors could see lions, tigers, bears, cheetahs, monkeys, birds and snakes, while the aquarium featured marine life including penguins and performing seals. At one point, the menagerie included four Bengal tigers.
But the animals were only part of the attraction.
Queensport had a switchback railway - an early form of roller coaster - along with flying machines, a camera obscura, swings, donkey rides and merry-go-rounds.
There were sporting grounds for cricket, athletics, cycling, tennis and lawn bowls, while sculling and yachting took place on the Brisbane River.
The grounds covered around 11 acres, with landscaped gardens, fountains, a fernery and plenty of space for picnics.
Then there was the enormous main building.
The two-storey structure contained six large fish tanks, a three-tiered fountain and a large fernery. Upstairs was a remarkable 1,400-seat concert hall, complete with dressing rooms, dining facilities, plush curtains and an electric self-playing pipe organ.
And Brisbane’s new electric technology added even more spectacle.
Electric lighting was installed on 10 September 1889, allowing the Aquarium to stay open three nights a week. Visitors could take twilight cruises along the Brisbane River before enjoying evening dances and concerts.
The attraction became hugely popular.
Three steamers - Alice, Woolwich and Natone - ferried visitors from Brisbane to Queensport, and by the end of 1889 tens of thousands of people had visited.
Then came an extraordinary day.
On 16 December 1889, around 10,000 people reportedly visited Queensport in a single day!
But Queensport also had a much darker chapter.
In 1892, a murder near the Aquarium resulted in 17-year-old Francis Charles Horrocks being convicted and sentenced to death.
Horrocks was hanged at Brisbane Gaol on 26 September 1892, and the State Library of Queensland records him as the youngest person ever executed in Queensland.
Then came the weather…
In March 1892, a severe storm blew the switchback railway and several empty animal cages into the Brisbane River.
And less than a year later came the devastating Great Flood of 1893.
Floodwaters swept through the Aquarium grounds, knocking down fences and freeing animals. The damage was enormous.
Remarkably, Queensport reopened on Easter Monday 1893.
But the Aquarium was never quite the same.
With much of its animal attraction gone, the site increasingly relied on dances, concerts, pleasure cruises and picnics to attract visitors.
The crowds eventually declined, and on 8 November 1897, the Aquarium was sold. The remaining animals and much of the infrastructure were disposed of, but the main pavilion survived and continued operating as a dance hall until 1901.
And then Queensport gradually disappeared from Brisbane’s landscape and memory.
Today, the former site lies at the end of Aquarium Avenue, Hemmant, with the history commemorated nearby at Queensport Rocks Park.
Imagine boarding a steamer in Brisbane in 1889 and heading down the river to a riverside wonderland filled with tigers, roller coasters, seals, concerts, dancing, electric lights and an enormous aquarium.
Brisbane’s very own 19th-century theme park - and one of the most fascinating chapters in the city’s history.
The State Library of Queensland has put together a fascinating article on this subject.
We’d really appreciate you showing the State Library of Queensland some support by taking a look at their article. It’s a great opportunity to learn more about this fascinating piece of local history.
https://www.slq.qld.gov.au/blog/queensport-aquarium-queenslands-first-amusement-park
Images sourced from Public Domain originals and digitally brought back to life by the Dave & Malou Channel. Where appropriate, images have been carefully colourised, restored and digitally enhanced using modern photo-editing and AI-assisted tools.
While every effort has been made to preserve the original details and historical character, these enhancements are artistic interpretations and may not perfectly represent the people, colours, buildings or surroundings exactly as they originally appeared. Original photographs: Queensland State Library & Queensland State Archives.
