Brisbane Stadium
Brisbane, QLD, Australia
Photo: Brisbane Stadium (1940s)
- Located at the corner Charlotte and Albert Streets, Brisbane
- Owned by Stadiums Ltd
- Opened in 1910 as "Brisbane Stadium"; Reopened 27 April 1959 as "Festival Hall"
- Closed 29 August 2003
Festival Hall was originally known as the Brisbane Stadium. It was built in 1910 by boxing champion and promoter Reginald "Snowy" Baker and his brother Harald. The Bakers had been partners with the builder of the original Sydney Stadium, boxing promoter Hugh McIntosh. They bought out McIntosh in 1912, and built more stadiums in other capitals. In 1914 the Bakers joined forces with Richard Lean and prominent Melbourne business identity John Wren, becoming the principal shareholders in a new company that controlled the venues, Stadiums Pty Ltd (usually referred to as Stadiums Ltd).
As the 1940s photo at top shows, the original Brisbane Stadium was a brick-and-corrugated-iron building, very similar in style to Sydney Stadium. Sydney Stadium was demolished in 1971 to make way for the Eastern Suburbs Railway, but the Brisbane Stadium was extensively renovated in the late '50s, as part of the celebrations for the centenary of Queensland's statehood and it reopened as Festival Hall on 27 April 1959.