Free public swimming lagoons and water play areas in the South Bank Parklands are a popular legacy of Brisbane’s World Expo 1988.
Within South Bank’s 17 hectares of parklands, there are three interconnected swimming and water play areas, all of them free to the public.
The main lagoon with its sandy beach known as Streets Beach (sponsored by a company that makes ice cream) is the Parklands’ centrepiece. The water area of the Streets Beach lagoon is about 3,600 m2 as measured by Redlands2030 with Google Earth’s polygon ruler.
For families with young children, there’s the adjacent Aquativity water play area built in 2006 at a reported cost of $5.2 million.
On the other side of Streets Beach is a sand-free swimming lagoon known as the Boat Pool. It has a water area of about 1,100m2, almost as large as an Olympic swimming pool. The Boat Pool includes an access ramp with handrails.
Streets Beach and the Boat Pool are patrolled by lifeguards seven days a week. The South Bank pools all use fresh water which is chlorinated.
Development history of the South Bank Parklands
South Bank Parklands, with its beach and public swimming lagoons, opened to the public in June 1992, less than four years after Expo 88 ended.
Initial planning for post-Expo redevelopment by the National Party State Government, from 1986 to 1988, favoured a proposal by the River City 2000 Consortium which included a casino, hotels, 50-storey world trade centre and public space (but no swimming lagoons).
When the River City 2000 Consortium’s plans were revealed to the public after Expo 88 concluded, the community was outraged: “People objected to the lack of consultation, the lack of open space, the casino, and the way the decision was reached” (1).
The South Bank Corporation was given the job of preparing new plans for the site. A Draft Development Plan based on design work by architects Media 5 (Desmond Brooks) was put out for public consultation in November 1988, just before the 2 December 1989 State Elections.
The draft plan received a “high 72 % public approval rating” according to the South Bank Corporation’s 1989-90 Annual Report. The South Bank Corporation Area Development Plan was approved in April 1990 by the Goss Labor Government.
When it opened in 1992 the South Bank Parklands included large areas of ground level car parking and a narrow canal. These features have disappeared – replaced with commercial and residential development and underground car parks. The swimming lagoons have remained largely in their original state for more than three decades.
Millions of visitors flock to South Bank Parklands
The new parklands were hugely popular with a total of 12 million visits by June 1994, covering two years from the official opening. By June 1995 the parklands were attracting tourists as well as local residents according to South Bank Corporation’s 1994-95 Annual Report:
Anecdotal reports from Parklands’ tenants and staff in the Parklands’ Visitor Information Centre point to an increasing representation of interstate and international visitors within the Parklands’ total visitor patronage. Significant new inbound and group tour business has been secured, especially from Japanese, Asian, New Zealand and European markets.
Operations and repair costs for swimming pools at Southbank
The cost of maintaining South Bank’s free to use swimming facilities including lifeguard wages was about $1 million per year in 2003 according to comments by South Bank’s asset manager Graham Robinson, reported by the Financial Review. This would be equivalent to $1.8 million in today’s dollars adjusting for inflation with the ABS CPI index. As the facilities have aged, it’s likely that maintenance costs are even higher now.
In 2025 Streets Beach lagoon was closed for five months to investigate and rectify water leaks. Works included relining more than 250 metres of pipes. These works were required due to “the lagoon’s age and complexity” said Southbank Corporation.
References
South Bank Corporation Annual Reports: 1988-89, 1989-90, 1990-91, 1991-92, 1992-93, 1993-94, 1994-95
We need a free swimming area in the Redlands also.
With beautiful parks surrounding.
A resident for the past 50 years who has watched our Shire explode with crowded housing
and more people and traffic.
Keep the Redlands liveable.