The area became an attractive and popular recreational venue from 1863 when the QAS established its gardens which extended from the creek to Bowen Bridge Road.

The Society played an important role in the development of civic and domestic landscapes in Queensland through its concern with ornamental and garden trees and shrubs.

Whereas the Acclimatisation Societies in New South Wales and Victoria placed a considerable emphasis on animals, the QAS focussed on plants though at various times deer, llamas, rabbits, Chinese sheep, Angora goats, pheasants, partridges and a variety of songbirds were on show at Bowen Park.

[1] These decorative elements included a four-metre high coral-stone grotto-like ornamental fountain encrusted with shells, ferns and lichen, four pieces of neo-classical statuary (the four seasons), a gift from Joseph Oppenheimer [3] urns and various planting pots, several giant clam shells; all complemented by complex carpet bedding displays on and around a quatrefoil-shaped island within a lagoon with a bamboo grove backdrop.

The dense, exuberant Victorian planting was massed in shrubberies and borders interspersed with winding paths creating a wild woodland cum exotic jungle ambience.

From 1879 23 acres (9.3 ha) of land from the QAS holding was leased to the National Association for fifty years for use as an exhibition ground.

As commercial plant nurseries grew and as a range of other public enterprises in horticulture and agriculture were established support for the QAS declined.

The Brisbane Municipal Council purchased the Society's remaining holding in Bowen Park and officially opened the gardens as a public recreational reserve on 11 June 1914.

Landscaping work was undertaken including the establishment of eighteen flower beds, five of which formed a rondel around a palm tree on the southern sloping.

A number of rose beds were planted out and four statues that had been part of the Acclimatisation Society gardens' fountain were relocated in open lawns.

A cottage was erected on O'Connell Terrace for the Council's chauffeur and in 1915 the public toilets on the Bowen Bridge Road boundary were constructed.

[1] From 1930 to 1950 further parcels of land were sold to the now Royal National Agricultural and Industrial Association (RNA) and in 1940 the widening of Bowen Bridge Road reclaimed a further 13.3 perches (340 m2).

There was considerable opposition to attempts by the RNA to claim more land from Bowen Park during the 1950s but 8.9 perches (230 m2) was reclaimed for the wood chopping stadium in 1955.

[1] His intention was to present colourful patterned displays on the lawns to passing traffic and tram passengers and to patients and staff in the Royal Brisbane Hospital (across Bowen Bridge Road).

He added paths and modified the Bowen Bridge Road edge to include extensive flower beds.

The park retains trees considered to be part of the QAS major plantings from the 1860s to the 1890s, evidence of the extensive design work and extensive planting undertaken in 1914 to 1917 by Henry Moore for the Brisbane Municipal Council and work undertaken during the third phase of development by Harry Oakman for the Brisbane City Council from 1950 to 1959.

[1] The Bowen Bridge Road edge has survived over the history of the landholding and formed the boundary of the Queensland Acclimatisation Society's Gardens from 1863.

This edge of Bowen Park also contains simple, medium height planting of hedges and borders, beds of annuals, strips of lawn, the secondary paths installed by Oakman and the toilet block.

[1] The toilet block on the Bowen Bridge Road boundary is a small single- storey loadbearing brick structure with a tiled roof with a timber battened soffit.

A set of Brisbane tuff stairs ascends from O'Connell Terrace at the north-west corner to a now open level lawn area which was the site of the Superintendent's cottage from 1914 to 1949.

These fig trees (Ficus benjamina) were in the park prior to the Council's substantial works in 1914 and 1915 and may have been planted for the QAS Gardens.

The Cook pine (Araucaria columnaris) and coral tree (Erythrina hendersonii) are possibly remnants from QAS plantings.

[1] The trees and shrubs on the RNA northern boundary form a screen and edge to the eastern spaces of the Park.

A gravel vehicle path from O'Connell Terrace to the Brisbane City Council depot runs beside the curved edge boundary bed which contains a mature rubber tree (Ficus elastica).

The semi-circle of poinciana (Delonix regia) was established during the 1914 Council refurbishment and sits around an ornamental circular flower bed redesigned by Harry Oakman in the late 1950s.

Remnant planting from this time is important in demonstrating the operations of the QAS and its contribution to the development of commercial agriculture and civic and domestic landscapes in Queensland.

The ornamental flower beds remaining from the 1914–1917 period designed by Henry Moore and the 1950s work by Harry Oakman are substantially intact and demonstrate the decorative features popular in garden and park development of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Its ornamental planting beds, stone walls and attractive entrance gates contribute a bold and colourful presence to the streetscape.

Other elements contributing to the historical and aesthetic qualities of the place include a 1914 bandstand rotunda, 1915 toilet block [one of the earliest municipal toilet blocks surviving in Brisbane], stone stairs and the northern and southern ends of the park, and drinking fountains thought to date to the 1950s.

Soutter influenced the development of horticulture in Queensland through his experimental work for the QAS, his contributions to shows and international exhibitions and his publications.