Construction on Sleeman Sports Complex was completed in 1982.
The complex in Chandler, Brisbane, was purpose-built for the 1982 Commonwealth Games. Its original name, the Sleeman Sports Centre, honoured Frank Sleeman, who served as Lord Mayor of Brisbane. The venue was completed in the same year that the Games came to Queensland’s capital.
Sleeman is a multi-venue sports precinct rather than a single arena. Its facilities have included an aquatic centre, velodrome, sports arena, gymnastics hall, gymnasium and theatre. That range explains why the complex has continued to host major events long after the Commonwealth Games ended.
The venue’s history is sometimes mixed up with later events held there. It hosted swimming, diving and cycling activities during the 2001 Goodwill Games, and the 1994 World Masters Games also used the site, but neither year marks its construction. Its newer Anna Meares Velodrome was completed in 2016, another date that can cause confusion with the original complex’s 1982 completion.