New Farm Park

Heritage-listed New Farm Park is the city’s grandest century old park, which began life as a farm back in the convict era of the mid-1800s.

Today, the 15-hectare, public recreational green space, is an active and healthy park, sporting many wonderful features.

The ornate bandstand rotunda, originally built in 1915, is a beautiful place to sit and take in the surrounding landscape, with seating around the railings. It’s also a very popular Brisbane location for wedding photos.

New Farm Park’s famous century old rose garden (established in 1914) is home to tens of thousands of roses of 250 colours and varieties and a wander through the rose arbor when they’re in bloom is a delight to the senses.

There are electric BBQ facilities and water fountains dotted around, along with lots of shady trees to laze underneath for a picnic. There are a couple of sites that can be booked through the council’s website. Council-provided free Wi-Fi is also available.

The unrivalled attraction for the kids is the swathe of interconnected tree houses set in a grove of magnificent aged banyan trees and the extensive playground of old and new that has sprung up around it, guaranteed to offer hours of fun for kids of all ages.

There is also a giant climbing net for older kids and a fantastic nature play section as well as more traditional play things like slides and swings.

Much-loved Brisbane Powerhouse is located at the eastern end of the park, and houses Mary Mae’s and Bar Alto if you’re after a drink or a bite to eat.

Plenty of parking is available both within the New Farm Park and in neighbouring streets, or you can take to the river and disembark at the New Farm Park ferry terminal.

History of New Farm Park

New Farm Park began life as the second farm (hence the name) that was established to grow crops to feed the convicts and this was followed by a brief career as a racecourse of wild repute until the permanent and more civilised Eagle Farm Racecourse was established in 1863.

Years of wilderness followed until its land purchase by the BCC and establishment during World War I by Harry Moore, Brisbane’s first and arguably greatest parks superintendent, in collaboration with acclaimed city architect Alfred Foster (together they were like the Bernie Taupin and Elton John of city parks).

Most of the park’s original features have been preserved, including the rotunda (designed by Foster) by the river, its circuitous avenue of jacarandas and the splendid rose garden which was established in 1914 and extended during the 1950s.