Roma Street Parklands, Brisbane

Roma Street Botanic Gardens are quite a large area to walk around.
For people with disabilities and children, there is a little trackless Train that takes a 1.3km route around the gardens.
The fare is a reasonable $3 For Adults and $2 for children.

The Garden's are open every day and are FREE ENTRY

Main pedestrian entrances to the Parkland:

Albert Street entrance – from King George Square, head out of the city centre along Albert Street, 200m past the Turbot and Albert Streets intersection, to the main pedestrian entry, Albert Street Footbridge.

Roma Street entrance – access is available through the Brisbane Transit Centre and Roma Street rail station. Proceed through the train tunnel to Platform 10, across the road, along the pathway and up the lift or escalators into the Parkland. This entrance is open between 6am and 8pm.

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Roma Street Parkland offers FREE WALKS for interested people.

The walks are for people as young as "under 5yrs" these are called "out and about with bub" and run for 45minutes.
They start from the Melange Cafe every Wednesday & Friday at 10am.

For the Adults, there is, The Art walk which takes a look at the differents artworks throughout the garden, Heritage walk, this one takes visitors through the varied history of the garden from the past to 2001.
The Sensory walk, is for people that are vision impaired or brain damaged. This walk is mainly in quiet surrounds and around the Spectacle Garden.
The Curator's walk goes behind the scenes and helps you to gain a better understanding of the design and planning of the gardens. Each walk is different.

The Walks are daily, departing from the "HUB" at 10am and 2pm.

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This is a lovely 16 hectacre parkground made from disused old rail yards in 2001.

It is in the heart of the city, not far from the Queen street Mall and King George Square. You can reach here by walking, Train (direct access from Platform 10 @ Roma Street station) or Public Transport.
It is a stop on the City Sights Tourist Bus route, and as well, there are numerous stops around the park if using a Brisbane City Council Bus.

The park has a lot outdoor art collections, an ever changing floral display, Australian Natives, a Lake and Lookout, Playground, Herb garden, Lawns, Cacti and displays of other types of Plants. The walks are many, with plenty of seating, some in secluded corners, the path is so you do not know what is around the next corner.
There is also a Cafe where you can have meals, or perhaps just that Icecream in a cone. A really nice spot to visit in the City

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This oasis in the centre of Brisbane was built on the site of the old railway goods yard of Roma Street station which moved out of the city in 1991 when it became too large.

The parklands has an amphitheatre which is used frequently by theatre companies and also for events like the Lord Mayor's Christmas Carols.

There is a mixture of formal flower beds, themed gardens and grassy areas.

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If you are interested in the Native plants of Australia, then the Roma street parklands has a good selection. Queensland Bottle Trees are growing in the gardens, they have this name because of the distinct bottle shaped trunk. You will also see Kangaroo Paw, most of these come from the South West of Western Australia. You will see Banksias, Grevilleas, Daisies, ground covers and others. Notices are by each giving you a description of the plant you are looking at.

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If you'd like a relaxing activity to do, I would recommend walking around the Roma Street Parkland for an hour or so to enjoy the beautiful scenery. The Parkland is actually the largest urban subtropical garden in the world and showcases many of Australia's unique plants that are able to survive in the different climates found on the continent. I enjoyed roaming the meandering path through all the different areas and enjoying all the unique and beautiful plants.

There is also a small lake in the middle of Parklands, as well as an amphitheatre, a waterfall/ water feature and a large grassy area that would be perfect for picnicking. We actually saw a wedding entourage at the Parkland taking pictures - the Parkland was definitely a beautiful backdrop for their photos!

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The Roma Street railway goods yards were an intrinsic part of Brisbane from the start of the railway system in the 1800s. The sort of scenic wonder all cities need – rusty tracks, grimy storage sheds, equally grimy railway wagons. So, in a city where modernisation is everything, it was only a matter of time before someone felt the need to upgrade the place. That process was started in 2000 and the new parklands opened in 2002.

We visited on a fiendishly hot summer day, with the humidity levels just one point below sauna level. Wandering really wasn’t pleasant, somewhere air conditioned would have been far more sensible. I don’t know if that influenced my pespective on the parklands, or if the parklands have been oversold, but they didn’t live up to my expectations. I’d read many times, on VT and in the glossy tourist brochures, that the parklands are “…the world’s largest urban subtropical garden…”. Well, it’s a park with subtropical vegetation (which is what you’d expect to find in Brisbane), but I found Southbank equally pleasant from the tourist perspective and with more to do. To the south, extending over the vestigial portion of the railway yards are new apartments, to which the park essentially forms an extended front garden.

The parkland has many water features (causing something of a challenge during the ongoing drought – but they’re apparently recycling water). We rather liked the water wall, because the fine spray it created was quite cooling. Nearby is a little jetty arrangement in a lake: this was closed to visitors for the afternoon because a wedding was to be held there. So we found a restaurant, in the process of closing at 1430 on a Saturday, and left after a cool drink.

Main photo: Frangipanni flowers, Roma Street Parklands
Second photo: The lovely cooling water wall feature
Third photo: Another water feature at Roma Street Parklands
Fourth photo: The “wedding jetty”.

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These gardens cover a large area, 16 hectares, very close to the city and were opened approximately 4 years ago. The area was previously the old railway shunting yards and the redevelopment of the site commenced in 2000 with the gardens opened in 2002. Much of the garden is on sloping parkland with sections for the various categories of plants, some very nice water features, man made lakes and a well thought out watering system which recycles most of the water used on the gardens. There are good footpaths and boardwalk sections which bring you close to the speciality areas of this parkland. A cafe for those who need refreshment or wish to relax and view this beautiful garden a little longer.
When we visited in September, 2006 Brisbane was experiencing a drought and severe water restrictions were in place, however the gardens still looked good.
Admission is Free.