Queensland is a state of Australia which occupies
the north-eastern section of the mainland continent.
It is bordered by the Northern Territory to the
west, South Australia to the south-west and New
South Wales to the south.
To the
east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and
Pacific Ocean. The state is Australia's second
largest by area, following Western Australia, and
the country's third most populous after New South
Wales and Victoria.
Glass House
Mountains:
Glass House Mountains (also spelt Glasshouse
Mountains) is a hinterland town of the Sunshine
Coast, Queensland, Australia, named after the famous
Glass House Mountains of the area. It is located
approximately 70 km north of Brisbane, belonging to
the Sunshine Coast Regional Council local government
area . Colloquially it is often known simply as
"Glasshouse".
The
town's population is just over 1000, and many of its
original foundations were built on sugarcane and
pineapple farming. The town also has a train station
and a railway line that runs northwards towards
Northern Queensland and southwards to Brisbane.
The
town also has one of the largest and well maintained
soccer grounds on the Sunshine Coast. The popularity
of soccer having sprung up from the European farmers
that inhabited the area. The grounds were built
mostly using the donated resources of those farmers
of the area.
The
township of Beerwah is located in this region, a
popular tourist destination, being home to Steve
Irwin's Australia Zoo..
Great Barrier
Reef:
Located off the coast of Queensland, the Great
Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef
system composed of roughly 3,000 individual reefs
and 900 islands stretching for over 3,000 kilometres
(1,600 mi) over an area of approximately 344,400
square kilometres (133,000 sq mi). The reef is
located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of
Queensland, northeast Australia.
The
Great Barrier Reef can be seen from outer space and
is the world's biggest single structure made by
living organisms. This reef structure is composed of
and built by billions of tiny organisms, known as
coral polyps. The Great Barrier Reef supports a wide
diversity of life, and was selected as a World
Heritage Site in 1981.
A
large part of the reef is protected by the Great
Barrier Reef Marine Park, which helps to limit the
impact of human use, such as overfishing and
tourism. Other environmental pressures to the reef
and its ecosystem include water quality from runoff,
climate change accompanied by mass coral bleaching,
and cyclic outbreaks of the crown-of-thorns
starfish.
The
Great Barrier Reef has long been known to and
utilised by the Aboriginal Australian and Torres
Strait Islander peoples, and is an important part of
local groups' cultures and spirituality. The reef is
a very popular destination for tourists, especially
in the Whitsundays and Cairns regions. Tourism is
also an important economic activity for the region.
Fishing also occurs in the region, generating AU$ 1
billion per year.
The
Great Barrier Reef reaches from Torres Strait
(between Bramble Cay, its northernmost island, and
the south coast of Papua New Guinea) in the north to
the unnamed passage between Lady Elliot Island (its
southernmost island) and Fraser Island in the south.
Lady Elliot Island is located 1,915 km (1,190 mi)
southeast of Bramble Cay as the crow flies.
Story
Bridge:
The Story Bridge is a cantilever
bridge spanning the Brisbane River. Part of
Bradfield Highway, it connects Fortitude Valley to
Kangaroo Point. Before the opening of the Sydney
Harbour Bridge in 1932 the Government of Queensland
asked John Bradfield to design a new bridge in
Brisbane. It is named for John Douglas Story.
A
bridge downstream of the Victoria Bridge was part of
a larger plan, devised by Professor Roger Hawken of
the University of Queensland in the 1920s, for a
series of bridges over the Brisbane River to
alleviate congestion on Victoria Bridge and to
divert traffic away from the Brisbane central
business district.
The
William Jolly Bridge was the first of the Hawken
Plan bridges to be constructed. Lack of funds
precluded the construction of the downstream bridge
at that time. Initially plans called for a
transporter bridge further downstream near New Farm.
In
1926 Kangaroo Point was recommended by the Brisbane
City Council's Cross River Commission. Subsequently
the bridge was constructed as a public works program
during the Great Depression. Construction began on
the bridge on 24 May 1935, with the first sod being
turned by the then Premier of Queensland, William
Forgan Smith. Until it was completed the bridge was
known as the Jubilee Bridge in honour of King George
V.[1] It was opened on 6 July 1940 by Sir Leslie
Orme Wilson, Governor of Queensland and named for
John Douglas Story, a senior and influential public
servant.
The
design for the bridge was based heavily on that of
the Jacques Cartier Bridge in Montreal, completed in
1930.
The Story Bridge features prominently in the annual
Riverfire display and is illuminated at night.
Bridge climbs began in 2005 and are becoming a major
tourist attraction.
Q1
Building:
Q1
(meaning Queensland Number One) is a super-tall
skyscraper located in Surfers Paradise, on the Gold
Coast. It is the world's tallest residential tower
and the tallest building in Australia and the
Southern Hemisphere.
At
322.5 m (1,058 ft) and with a roof height of 275 m
(900 ft), Q1 qualifies as the world's tallest
all-residential building when measured to the top of
its structural point (spire), but is the world's
second tallest behind Melbourne's Eureka Tower (roof
height of 297.3 metres, 975 ft) when measured to its
roof height and highest inhabitable floor. However,
according to the ranking system developed by the
US-based Council on Tall Buildings and Urban
Habitat, the main criteria in which heights are
ranked is to the top of the spire, therefore Q1
qualifies as the taller.
When completed, Q1 overtook the 21st Century Tower
in Dubai, United Arab Emirates to become the world's
tallest residential tower. It is currently in the
top 50 tallest buildings in the world when measured
to its structural point, dwarfing the Gold Coast
skyline with the closest buildings to Q1's height
being the 220 m (720 ft) North Tower of Circle on
Cavill and the under construction 250 m (820 ft)
Soul building.
This
article is licensed under the
GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the Wikipedia articles:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass_House_Mountains,_Queensland
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Barrier_Reef
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Story_Bridge,_Brisbane
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q1_(building)
