Heritage protection recommended for Victoria Park, but stadium to go ahead

A Queensland government department has recommended all of Victoria Park be heritage listed, despite the government’s plans to build the main stadium for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games on the site.

In a document dated April 2025, Environment Department heritage director Xanthe O’Donnell recommended the existing heritage listing, between Gilchrist Avenue and Gregory Terrace, be expanded to the rest of the park.

The recommendation came shortly after Premier David Crisafulli announced the inner-city park would be the site of a new 63,000-seat oval stadium, on the advice of the Games Independent Infrastructure and Coordination Authority.

Victoria Park’s city views were cited in the Environment Department’s recommendation for heritage listing.Credit: William Davis

Post-Games, it would revert to Brisbane’s home of cricket and the Brisbane Lions AFL team.

“Victoria Park, a place that has been formed by a range of uses over time, is important in demonstrating the establishment and evolution of Queensland’s early public recreation reserves,” O’Donnell writes in the recommendation.

“The park retains physical evidence of its varied and evolving uses – some have left visible legacies in built and landscape form, while others have contributed to the archaeological potential of the site.”

Save Victoria Park spokeswoman Rosemary O’Hagan said the recommendation was a vindication for the anti-stadium community group.

“It just highlights how important the park is,” she said.

“Most people in Brisbane didn’t really understand the cultural or heritage value of the park. They also don’t understand the hilly terrain, or the granite, the proximity to the hospital – there are so many reasons why you wouldn’t build there.

“It’s so obvious, but I think they just got so caught up in this idea of a stadium that they’ve lost reason as to why this site was never appropriate.”

Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie at the release of the government’s Brisbane 2032 plan.Credit: William Davis

But it could all be moot.

Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie introduced legislation on May 1 overriding 15 existing planning laws – including the Queensland Heritage Act – to ensure any Olympic-related development would be considered lawful, even if it ran afoul of previous legislation.

At the time, O’Hagan described the legislative amendments as a “slap in the face” for democracy.

Asked about the heritage recommendation on Tuesday, Bleijie pivoted to defending the government’s legislative approach.

“The new powers will allow GIICA to progress the 2032 Delivery Plan on time and on budget, with appropriate safeguards in place,” he said.

“The decision to introduce these new laws was not taken lightly, but they are necessary to make up for Labor’s wasted three years, which require a specific streamlined approval process to implement the 2032 delivery plan.”

Undeterred, O’Hagan said Save Victoria Park was investigating all legal options.

“We’ve got a team of experts working on that, and [the next step will] be communicated in due course,” she said.

The exact location of the stadium, and its design, are yet to be decided.

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