QUEENSLAND'S GERMAN CONNECTIONS - PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

Expo’88 – Brisbane takes to the stage

Image (T108-2) courtesy of Brisbane City Council

The public could see their wonderful Expo take shape and, as the friendly official Expo Mascot platypus ‘Expo Oz’ did his world tour, Brisbane came alive with the Expo anthem Together, We’ll Show the World! – which indeed seemed to capture the wonder and anticipation. Soon, Expo’s international and other participants began arriving, putting their unique final touches to their Pavilions. After much fanfare, some criticism, and the inevitable pre-opening storms and rain, Expo’88 officially opened its doors at 10:00am on Saturday 30 April 1988. Following the handover of the official Bureau of International Exhibitions flag to the City of Brisbane at Brisbane’s City Hall, a parade of nations walked over the Victoria Bridge to the awaiting delegations and a crowd of over 7,000. HM Queen Elizabeth II arrived at the River Stage pontoon by barge from HMY Britannia , moored downstream at Hamilton.

On a 40-hectare site on the south bank of the Brisbane River, a former collection of disused railyards, light industry, residential and parkland directly across from the Brisbane central business district, was transformed into Expo’88. The largest single event commemorating the Bicentenary of European settlement to Australia was secured by Brisbane on 5 December 1983 after intensive Australian competition. The six-month-long $625 million exposition lasted 184 days, from 30 April to 30 October 1988. Under the theme of Leisure in the Age of Technology it attracted 52 government participants, including 36 nations, 14 state and regional level governments, and two multi-lateral organisations (the United Nations and European Community). Among the 48 corporate participants were IBM, Qantas, Australia Post, Fujitsu, and the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO).

From coal wharves to warehouse wasteland to world-class facilities: the site which was earmarked for Brisbane’s debut on the world stage had a chequered but no less vital history. Once the new colony’s thriving docklands (before the first of a succession of Victoria Bridges linked the separate towns of South Brisbane and North Brisbane), the wharves found greater importance as steam replaced sail. Coal mined near Ipswich was sent down to feed visiting steamers, as the photo (left) from 1913 shows. After years of disuse and neglect, the South Bank site was rejuvenated for the longest-running party of Australia’s Bicentenary Year. In accord with the masterplan, South Bank’s post-expo guise provides parkland, beaches, lagoons and other recreational and dining facilities just across the river from the CBD. Images courtesy of (left) John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland (digital ID 1 270633), and (right) Papermoon Productions

After noting her great-grandmother’s important role in opening the very first World Exhibition at the Crystal Palace, Hyde Park, London, in 1851, the monarch declared to those present and a watching television audience of millions that Expo’88 was ‘well and truly open!’ Entry tickets ranged from $160 for a season pass to $14 for an evening’s entertainment.

Chair and Chief Executive Officer of the Expo Authority, the statutory body established to prepare for the event, was (now Sir) Llewellyn Edwards. A well-known state government minister, “Sir Llew” (as he is commonly referred to) was a popular and well-liked driving force behind the Exposition. On any given day he could be seen wandering the site, greeting people cheerfully as he passed.

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