[5] The event achieved both its economic aims and very good attendances, was successfully used to promote Queensland as a tourist destination and it spurred a major re-development at the South Brisbane site.

It occurred to Maccormick that an exposition would be an ideal catalyst for such a redevelopment, and he later hosted meetings with prominent Queensland business persons and government representatives to discuss the idea.

Immediately, the Brisbane Exposition and South Bank Redevelopment Authority was formed with Sir Llewellyn Edwards, State Deputy Premier, at the helm.

World Expo 88 occupied a mixed usage 40-hectare (98.8 acres) resumed (acquired/taken, as in "Eminent Domain") parcel of land on the South Bank of the Brisbane River, opposite the city's central business district.

[10] Construction was coordinated by Brisbane-based Thiess Contractors Pty Ltd. Around 100 works of sculpture were either commissioned, purchased or borrowed for World Expo 88 at a cost of $25 million.

[11] A A$4.5 million 88-metre (289.37911 feet) symbolic tower for the Expo was constructed, called The Night Companion (also known as "The Skyneedle"), which featured a gold and copper dome black spire top, with a xenon laser beam eye that scanned the Brisbane horizons each Expo evening up to 60 kilometres (37 mi) away.

Costing A$12 million, it consisted of 2 stations at either end of the site, 2.3 kilometres (1.4 mi) of track and 4 nine-carriage trains.

[6] The Commissioner General for World Expo 88 was Sir Edward Williams (who was also the Chairman for the also very successful 1982 Commonwealth Games).

The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, the former State Government Minister Sir Llewellyn Edwards, was appointed in February 1984.

[6] The General Manager was Bob Miniken and the Entertainment Director was Ric Birch (who would soon become one of the greatest experts in Olympic ceremonies and large-scale events in the world).

[6] Despite late entrants into the Exposition due to domestic political measures, World Expo 88 attracted some 100 pavilions, from 52 governments, of which 36 were from international-level, and numerous corporate participants.

Major western and European nations were represented such as the United States, the Soviet Union (last representation at a World Exposition), France, West Germany (also last representation at a World Exposition), the United Kingdom, Canada, Spain and Greece, as well as major Asian countries such as Singapore, Thailand, Nepal, Pakistan, China, Japan, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Indonesia, and the Philippines, and amongst others.

NASA and Universal Studios hosted outdoor exhibits, with models of the Space Shuttle and Apollo program, as well as the car KITT from the TV series Knight Rider.

[15] The most popular pavilion was New Zealand[16] with its animated Footrot Flats show and glow worm cave followed by Australia, with its special effects 'Dreamtime Theatre'; Queensland, with its popular 180-metre long people mover ride through Queensland of the present and the future; Japan with its Japan Pond and Garden and hi-tech displays; Switzerland, with its artificial snow ski slope and cable car ride; and Nepal, with its 3-level hand-crafted Nepalese Peace Pagoda.

These letters became a very popular photo opportunity for the Expo, and the theme was also found on the brightly coloured Australia Pavilion uniforms also.

[18] The $38 million entertainment program featured acts from all over Australia and the world at a variety of custom-made performance venues on the World Expo 88 site from the 10,000-seat spectacular open-air River Stage (for national day events, opening and closing ceremonies and large-scale events), the 850-seat piazza for circus, marching band, acrobatics, magic and mime, and the smaller-scale amphitheatre for national day ceremonies and laser shows.

Perennial Australian favourites such as Icehouse, Little River Band, Mental as Anything, The Cockroaches, Joe Camilleri and the Black Sorrows, John Farnham, Julie Anthony, Simon Gallaher, Wickety Wak and Jon English, were regular performers, as well as concerts by international artists such as Jerry Harrison (of Talking Heads), Julio Iglesias, John Denver, Donny Osmond, Cher, Phyllis Diller, and a wide variety of international theatre, opera, and classical music at the adjoining (separate ticket admission) World Expo on Stage program at the Queensland Performing Arts Complex.

As Judith Durham refused perform for the Expo '88 Closing Ceremony celebrations (due to her sentiments of what happened to the aborigines),[20] Australian soprano Julie Anthony joined the group as the lead vocalist in her stead.

[21] A massive fireworks display, the longest in Australia at the time,[6] soon followed, with a burning icon of the World Expo 88 sun sails logo set alight on the Brisbane River.

A second proposal, incorporating extensive parklands, boutique retail, as well as low-medium residential development, was later accepted, and four years after the closure of World Expo 88, the site was reopened as South Bank Parklands, which is managed by the South Bank Corporation, a State Government corporation.

The popular boardwalk eateries at the southern end of the Expo 88 site were replaced by River Quay Green and modern restaurants in 2011.

The Skyneedle (or "Night Companion") is 88 m (289 ft)-high and beams light skywards with a visibility of more than 60 km (37 mi) during special events.

Also the 88-strong white fibreglass 'Human Factor' sculpture series which captured the whimsy of persons in day-to-day life,[23] were also put up for private sale, with many of them being purchased for shopping centres and arcades.

A sectional model or maquette of Jon Barlow Hudson's artwork Paradigm is on display outside State Library of Queensland.

The Victorian Pavilion was purchased privately and moved to 77 Shore St West, Cleveland, where it is known as Redland Trade Centre.