[1][2] Brisbane was born in 1926 in the tribal bushland of the Atampaya people, but brought up at Injinoo (then called Cowal Creek) when members of his tribe settled there.
[7] He was ordained deacon in 1969 and priest in 1970, by the Bishop of Carpentaria, the Rt Rev Eric Hawkey.
[8] Alan Gill, the religious affairs correspondent of The Sydney Morning Herald, described Brisbane's ordination as a priest as "perhaps the most momentous - if least reported - event in Australian Anglican history".
[9] Brisbane's importance to Australian Anglican history has been little recognised, but it was sufficiently significant that the Queensland Minister for Aboriginal and Island Affairs, Nev Hewitt, attended the ordination.
[13] The former Bishop of Carpentaria, the Rt Rev Tony Hall-Matthews, credits Brisbane with having taught him much about Aboriginal culture at Normanton.