Brisbane is named after which river?

Brisbane is named after the Brisbane River. The river was named in 1823 by explorer John Oxley in honour of Sir Thomas Brisbane, then Governor of New South Wales.

The river flows through the city before reaching Moreton Bay and the Coral Sea. Its catchment helped shape Brisbane’s settlement, transport and economy: the early penal settlement moved from Redcliffe to the river’s banks at North Quay in 1825. Brisbane later grew as a river port and became Queensland’s capital when the colony separated from New South Wales in 1859.

The waterway is also known as Maiwar, a name associated with the Turrbal and Yagara peoples. “Brisbane River” is the standard English name used in modern maps and government contexts, while Maiwar reflects the area’s much older Indigenous cultural history. The river is about 344 kilometres long, tidal through much of the metropolitan area and notably winding, earning the local nickname “the Brown Snake.”