It remains the premier public park and recreational facility for the capital of Queensland, which role it has performed since the early 1840s.

"[1] Much of the present-day Botanic Gardens was surveyed and selected as the site for a public garden in 1828 by the NSW Colonial Botanist Charles Fraser,[2] three years after the establishment of the Moreton Bay penal settlement at nearby North Quay, Brisbane.

Originally the gardens were planted by convicts in 1825 with food crops to feed the prison colony.

Plants with potential commercial value were tested in the gardens, first to see if they were viable, to determine what they needed for growth and if a profit could be made.

[5] Hill introduced mango, pawpaw, ginger, tamarind, mahogany, poinciana and jacaranda trees as well as tobacco, sugar, grape vines, wheat, tropical fruits, tea, coffee, spices and textile plants.

[1] Early building work in the area included a Superintendent's cottage in the late 1850s, a platform for a battery of cannon in the early 1860s, a stone and iron fence around Queen's Park in 1865–66 [utilising stone from the old gaol on Petrie Terrace], and a drinking fountain in 1867.

The fountain, designed by Colonial Architect Charles Tiffin, was erected only a year after reticulated water from the Enoggera reservoir was introduced to Brisbane.

By the 1880s, some of the scientific work previously performed by the Botanic Gardens was being carried out by the Queensland Acclimatisation Society at Bowen Park.

[1] The extant City Botanic Gardens was formed by the amalgamation of the original Botanic Gardens with the Domain (the southern side of Gardens Point) and Queen's Park in 1916, bringing its total area to around 20 hectares (49 acres);[4] Queen's Park comprised a 10-acre (4.0 ha) strip along Alice Street, which originally served as a park and a sporting field, where regular cricket and football matches were held.

With many plants being washed away, the Brisbane City Council established a new botanic gardens at Mount Coot-tha.

Re-development of the Gardens in the late 1980s saw the introduction of new recreational structures and restoration work on the former Queen's Park fence.

[1] The Gardens were also the home for over 100 years for Harriet, a tortoise reportedly collected by Charles Darwin during his visit to the Galápagos Islands in 1835 and donated to the Gardens in 1860 by John Clements Wickham, former commander of HMS Beagle and later Government Resident for Moreton Bay.

[9] Set in undulating grounds, the gardens are bordered by mature shade trees which also create avenues and groves.

A lake and formal lawns, gardens and structures provide a diversity of passive recreational activities.

The lion shaped drinking fountains, presently not functioning, and basins are of white marble in contrast with the freestone of the rest of the structure.

It remains the premier public park and recreational facility for the capital of Queensland, which role it has performed since the early 1840s.

Many important plant introductions to Queensland, of both an agricultural and ornamental nature, can be traced directly to the Brisbane Botanic Gardens and the work of its early curators.

[1] The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history.