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Brisbane (pronounced /'b??z.b?n/) is
the capital and most populous city of the Australian state
of Queensland, and is the third largest city in Australia,
with a population of over 1.77 million. It is a city set
close to the Pacific Ocean, and is situated beside the
Brisbane River on plains between Moreton Bay and the Great
Dividing Range in south-eastern Queensland.
Named in honour of Sir Thomas Brisbane,
the city grew from a harsh penal colony established by
New South Wales at Redcliffe in 1824. It was chosen as
the capital of Queensland when it was proclaimed a separate
colony in 1859. The city developed slowly until after
World War II, when it played a central role in the Allied
campaign as the South West Pacific headquarters for General
Douglas MacArthur. Brisbane staged a successful Commonwealth
Games in 1982 and World's Fair in 1988. In the new millennium,
it is Australia's fastest growing city and the second
fastest in the developed world.
The area now known as Brisbane was inhabited
before European settlement by the Turrbul and Jagera people
whose ancestors originally migrated to the region from
across the Torres Strait. In 1823 an exploration party
led by John Oxley explored Moreton Bay and sailed up the
Brisbane River as far as Goodna, some 20 km upstream from
what is now Brisbane central business district.
In 1824, the colonial administration
of New South Wales established a penal settlement at what
is now Redcliffe, on the shores of Moreton Bay. However,
the Redcliffe settlement was abandoned after only one
year and the colony was moved south to a peninsula on
the Brisbane River (today the Brisbane CBD), which offered
a more reliable water supply. Non-convict European settlement
of the Brisbane region commenced in 1838.
Queensland was proclaimed a separate
colony in June 1859 and Brisbane, which was named in honour
of Sir Thomas Brisbane (who was, at that time, Governor
of New South Wales), was chosen as its capital. However,
Brisbane was not incorporated as a city until 1902. Over
twenty small municipalities and shires were amalgamated,
in 1925, to form the City of Greater Brisbane, now known
simply as the City of Brisbane.
During World War II, Brisbane played
a central role in the the Allied campaign when the AMP
Building (now called MacArthur Central) was used as the
South West Pacific headquarters for General Douglas MacArthur,
the chief of the Allied Pacific forces.
Brisbane staged a successful Commonwealth
Games in 1982 and World's Fair in 1988. These events in
the 1980s were accompanied by a scale of public expenditure,
construction and diplomacy not previously seen in the
state of Queensland.
In the decades since, the metropolis
has become one of Australia's fastest growing cities through
migration from all continents and the Australian states
and territories. In the new millennium, it is one of Australia's
fastest growing and most multicultural centres.
Brisbane has a typical subtropical climate
with hot, humid summers and dry, mild winters. From late
Spring through to early Autumn, thunderstorms are common
over the greater Brisbane area, with the more severe events
accompanied by large damaging hailstones, torrential rain
and destructive winds.
The city's highest recorded temperature
was 43.2 °C (109.8 °F) on the 26 January 1940,
while the lowest temperature of 2.3 °C (36.1 °F)
was recorded on 12 July 1894 and 2 July 1896 [3]. Brisbane's
wettest day was 21 January 1887, when 465 mm (18.3 in)
of rain fell on the city, the highest maximum daily rainfall
of any of Australia's capital cities.
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