The Vibrant Valley Heritage Trail takes you on a journey through history that highlights important historical sites and events that have shaped Fortitude Valley over time.

The Valley has long been associated with Brisbane’s darker side, but there is more to the story. The trail reveals:

the Valley’s rise as a commercial and retail centre in the late nineteenth century

important contributions by the Chinese community

emergence of the Valley as the centre for Brisbane’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community

the famous Fitzgerald Inquiry era

The Post Office was built in 1887 when the Valley was prospering.

The ground floor of this grand building provided postal and telegraph services and the upper floor was where the postmaster and his family lived. Originally, there was a small service wing at the rear of the building where the kitchen, dining room and servants’ room were, but this has since been demolished.

In 1907, respected Chinese businessman and Queensland’s first naturalized Chinese settler, James Dung Yow, started

translating mail addresses sent in Chinese into English for the post office. This important service ensured that the many Chinese merchants, business owners and their families in the Valley received mail from their homeland.

With the onset of the Great Depression in 1929, the Fortitude Valley Post Office was responsible for the distribution of welfare payments to 1205 recipients weekly. At the time, this was one of Australia’s busiest welfare distribution centres.

In the 1990s, the Fortitude Valley Post Office was converted into a nightclub,’The GPO’, and remains one of Brisbane’s most popular night spots.

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Centenary Park Brisbane

Centenary Place was created in 1925 to commemorate Queensland’s centenary of European settlement. Within the park

there are two statues.The statue closest to Ann Street was created by renowned sculptor, Sir Bertram Mackennal and depicts Thomas Joseph Byrnes, the first Queensland Premier to be born in the State.

This statue was initially erected in 1902 on the corner of Boundary and Wickham Streets, but was moved to its present location when the park was created.

It is one of the earliest statues erected in Brisbane.

The second statue depicts famous Scottish poet, Robert Burns.

This statue was commissioned by the Brisbane Caledonian Society and Burns Club in 1929. Statues of Burns are traditionally positioned with their backs to the church and if the proposed Holy Name Cathedral had been constructed, this would have been the case.

In the 1960s and into the 1970s, Centenary Place became Brisbane’s ‘Speaker’s Corner’, with orators from all political and social sectors, including Aboriginal rights activists, conveying their messages to hundreds of listeners on Sunday afternoons. Today, Brisbane’s ‘Speaker’s Corner’ can be found in the city’s King George Square.

Places are on the Heritage Trail Map