Expo '88

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Expo '88 - as seen from the Brisbane River
(photo taken from Victoria Bridge)

Expo '88 - showing a globe of the world
(photo taken from Victoria Bridge)

Expo '88 at night
(photo taken from Victoria Bridge)

Expo '88 was a World's Fair held in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia between April 30 and October 30, 1988. The theme of the Expo was "Leisure in the Age of Technology". The $AUD625 million fair was the largest event of the 1988 Bicentennial celebrations of the European settlement of Australia. The exposition was opened by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on April 30, 1988, to much fanfare.

The fair attracted more than 18 million visits, including staff and VIPs, more than double the predicted 7.8 million, and was considered a turning point in the history of Brisbane, which had recently successfully hosted the XIIth Commonwealth Games in 1982.

Chair and CEO of the Exposition Authority was the well-liked former State Government Minister, the Hon Sir Llewellyn Edwards, AC, who oversaw 30,000 accredited staff.

Despite late entrants into the Exposition due to domestic political measures, the Exposition attracted some 80 pavilions, of which 36 were from international-level governments. Most expensive pavilion was Japan ($26AUD million), followed by Queensland and Australia.

The Expo was situated on the South Bank of the Brisbane River, opposite the city's CBD. For many years this area, mainly industrial, had been largely derelict. The creation of Expo, along with the recent construction of the Queensland Cultural Centre, helped to revive the area.

The massive sun-sails that graced the Exposition site, giving shade from the Queensland sun, became iconic features of the Exposition and the South Brisbane skyline, and were removed at its conclusion.

A monorail was constructed for Expo '88, to take visitors quickly around the Expo site, with its route including going through the Queensland Pavilion (following Expo, the monorail became part of the Sea World monorail system.)

John Farnham was a regular visitor and performed frequently. The exposition averaged 100,000 visitors a day, with highest day of attendance being 184,000 visitors on October 29, 1988 - the last day before the Closing Ceremony.

At the Closing Ceremony of Expo '88, there were fireworks and a concert, with the famous Australian pop-folk group, The Seekers, singing one of their most famous songs "The Carnival is Over" at the very end of the celebrations, in what has become an Australian tradition. As Judith Durham was not available to join the other Seekers for the Expo '88 Closing Ceremony celebrations, popular Australian soprano Julie Anthony joined the group as the lead vocalist in her stead.

Two thousand kilometres of telephone wire were used in the construction of the site and $25 million Australian dollars were spent on commissioning, purchasing and loaning some 100 works of sculpture for the Exposition.

1 Photos of Expo '88
2 The Skyneedle
3 After Expo
4 External links

[edit] Photos of Expo '88

Seoul Olympics Mascot at the Korean Pavilion	British Pavilion	Entertainment at the British Pavilion	Map of the UK at the British Pavilion
Suit of Armour at the British Pavilion	Another suit of Armour at the British Pavilion	Statue at the Greek Pavilion	Statue at the Greek Pavilion
Minotaur at the Greek pavilion	Large Bell at the Hungarian Pavilion	Bells at the Hungarian Pavilion	Inside the Hungarian Pavilion
Canadian Pavilion and Expo Monorail	French Pavilion	German Pavilion	Russian Pavilion
Spanish Pavilion	Walking among the pavilions at Expo '88	The "Bounty" water show at Expo '88	Entertaining the people at Expo '88

[edit] The Skyneedle

The Skyneedle

The Skyneedle (or "Night Companion") is 88-metre high and beams light skywards with a visibility of more than 60 km during special events.

The Skyneedle, which was originally built for World Expo'88, was to be relocated to Tokyo Disneyland after Expo'88 when hairdresser and local celebrity Stefan bought the rights and moved it 500m from its original location at South Bank to his corporate headquarters in South Brisbane, where it remains a prominent Brisbane landmark.

On November 4, 2006 a fire partially destroyed the landmark which is thought to have been started by an electrical fault caused by recent rain. By the time fire fighters had reached the location of the blaze, it had burnt itself out [1].

[edit] After Expo

After the end of Expo '88, various contingency plans were mooted as to possible future developments. One proposal was for a 'second' CBD-area to be developed, however this proposal was rejected. A second proposal, incorporating extensive parklands, boutique retail, as well as low-medium residential development, was later accepted, and four years after the closure of Expo 88, the site was reopened as the South Bank Parklands.

The only remaining traces of the Exposition on the former site are: the Nepalese Pavilion, a traditional three-storey hand-made wooden replica of a famous Pagoda in Kathmandu, the board walk at the South end of the parklands, and two (since renovated) Pubs

On April 30, 2004, sixteen years after the Expo's official opening, a commemorative foundation for the Exposition was launched, named Foundation Expo '88.