Published March 2025
Michael Kerry, Former Chief Town Planner and Head of Urban Management for the Brisbane City Council (1992-2004) shares his thoughts on a proposed stadium in Victoria Park Barrambin.
I remember distinctly a conversation around the success of the Brisbane bid to host the Olympics focusing on its relative affordability stemming from the reuse of key infrastructure and city facilities. We were assured that 2032 is to be a sustainable Olympic event. There was general agreement this would pave the way for a new generation of games.
Meanwhile, Council has on numerous occasions made a strong commitment to deliver a world standard new park for the city at Victoria Park and has taken the first step by closing the public golf course.
Victoria Park will be the centrepiece of a major new city park commensurate with the scale of the anticipated growth of southeast Queensland.
Now it appears there has been a change of opinion and Victoria Park is under threat of Olympic stadiums and high-rise residential development. As the former head of planning and infrastructure in Brisbane City Council (1992 to 2004), I am calling this out as not keeping faith with the promise.
I have devoted much of my working life to helping make Brisbane a world-class city of which we can be justly proud. Unfortunately, the destruction of a large part of this park would make Brisbane a laughing stock among world cities. It would certainly tarnish the environmental reputation of the Olympics if the 2032 stadium was built over the top of such a magnificent inner-city park.
As cities expand upwards and outwards, green spaces become even more important in the city’s environmental and cultural life. They help define a city just as much as any man-made construction and they are the lungs of a growing city.
Victoria Park has faced many threats since it was first established by the new Queensland state government in 1875 – 150 years ago as the ‘Hyde Park’ of Brisbane. It was (and remains) Crown land. It is held in trust by Brisbane City Council. Its purpose under the Deed of Grant was and is for park purposes only.
Five years ago, Council committed to close the golf course (1931-2019) and return Victoria Park into what it was intended for 150 years ago. Council signed off on a Master Plan process to convert the park into what Lord Mayor Schrinner said would be Brisbane’s ‘Central Park’.
Now the park is threatened by the proposal to build the Olympic stadium, aquatic stadium, entertainment centre and extensive high-rise residential towers on the ridgeline of Victoria Park. This would overwhelm the park with concrete and steel construction. Stadiums should ideally be constructed on brownfield sites – to revitalise old, out of date industrial land that can be repurposed for sports facilities.
New York would never build a stadium in Central Park. London would never build a stadium in Hyde Park. If we miss this chance, the parkland will be gone forever. The Olympics last for a few weeks, but the park is a permanent legacy.
Let’s keep Victoria Park intact for the city and our future generations.
To hear more from the people who love the park, in their own words, visit savevictoriapark.com/voices
