Expo 88: How 1988 Brisbane event changed the Gold Coast forever

Expo 88 brought the worldwide party to Brisbane and put southeast Queensland on the global stage. But it had far-reaching consequences for the Gold Coast.

It was held up the road in Brisbane but Expo 88 left a profound impact on the Gold Coast.

The worldwide event, which ran for six months, helped put southeast Queensland on the map and brought millions of visitors both to the host city and to the Gold Coast itself.

Expo 88 was held 35 years ago, creating a stir and acting as a “coming of age” for the area, with the Gold Coast keen to get in on the action.

The Monorail passes over crowds at Expo 88 - it later moved to the Gold Coast.

Thousands of locals made the trek up the Pacific Highway to attend the opening on April 30, 1988 and get a glimpse of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who were on hand to open the event.

After four years of planning the curtain finally went up on the $625 million event, the biggest part of the nation’s bicentennial celebrations.

A giant inflatable Expo Oz, complete with slouch hat and striped swimming trunks skied down the Brisbane River and under thousands of spectators on Victoria Bridge.

National flags in the form of huge bunches of balloons lined the bridge and a Hercules plane flew low, spilling its colourful cargo of balloons all over the site.

Expo ambassador Jeanne Little delighted the crowd with her gold and black banana hat but her zany headgear was forgotten when the Queen finally emerged on stage in a pink hat, trimmed with blue, a pink and blue dress and white shoes.

Crowds on the riverwalk at Expo 88 for the opening ceremony.

Brisbane Lord Mayor Sallyanne Atkinson welcomed the royal couple to the nation.

“Expo 88 is something like a coming of age for our city,” she said.

“When you first came here more than 30 years ago we were still a city finding its feet.”

Southerners said Alderman Atkinson spoke of Brisbane as a cultural desert and the city hall clock tower dominated the skyline.

The Expo 88 precinct under construction.

She said the crowds of 1988 showed it had become the nation’s finest cultural centre.

And Gold Coasters were excited to attend, with a local seaplane company even offering flights taking off from the Broadwater and landing in Brisbane to ferry passengers to the event.

And accommodation was at such a premium for the event that a West End resident set up a tent on their front lawn, a short distance from Expo 88 offering rent for $450 a day.

Among the locals who attended were 14 students from Marymount Catholic College to man displays for the Duke of Edinburgh Award and to act as officials and guides during a visit by Prince Edward.

Indigenous protesters followed the Queen as she made a visit to St John’s Cathedral but the royals ignored the rally.

After opening Expo, the Queen boarded the royal yacht Britannia and waved goodbye from its deck as she made her way towards Sydney.

Expo 88 mascot Oz and chairman Sir Llewellyn (Llew) Edwards.

Expo 88 ran for six months, wrapping up in October that year.

It was declared a major success, selling $175 million worth of tickets and attracting 15.7 million visitors.

It also left behind a long legacy for the Gold Coast after its closure.

The monorail, which was installed at South Bank and ran Expo’s patrons around the precinct, was relocated to the Gold Coast and became part of the Sea World theme park’s collections, where it has ferried its guests around.

Tourism industry leaders also revelled in the flow-on effects of the event.

According to an early 1989 report, Expo had directly led to hotel room occupancies increasing 36.2 per cent during 1988, with profits up 92.2 per cent.

The success of Expo also led to a flurry of development occurring, including the $250m expansion of Australia Fair shopping centre which opened in April 1990.

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