Queensland's Parliament House has one of the more distinctive rooftops in the country. Its copper was mined in the outback town of Mt Isa, far to the northwest. The sandstone building dates to 1868, one of Brisbane's oldest surviving public structures. Built in French Renaissance Revival style, it sat at the centre of the state's political life until 1979, when politicians decamped next door for air-conditioned modernity. The grand old chambers still host parliamentary sittings.
The building has witnessed its share of drama. In 1912, a 73-year-old seamstress named Emma Miller led thousands of strikers here on Brisbane's Black Friday. When mounted police charged, she defended herself with a hatpin aimed squarely at the police commissioner's horse.
VoiceMap's self-guided audio tours use Parliament House to trace Brisbane's civic history, connecting the building's outback copper roof and French Renaissance architecture to the protest movements and political stories that shaped Queensland.