The Old Museum was originally called the Exhibition Building and Concert Hall. It was built in 1891 for the Queensland National Agricultural and Industrial Association after Brisbane's first exhibition building, which had occupied the land, was destroyed by fire on 13 June 1888. At the time of the fire the building was being used as a skating rink.[2]
On 25 April 1891, the laying of the foundation stone ceremony was held. Sir Arthur Hunter Palmer, acting Governor of Queensland, was given the honour of laying the foundation stone. Buried beneath the foundation stone is a bottle containing each of Brisbane's leading journals. The construction of the Old Museum was completed in August 1891[3]
The new exhibition building was designed by the architect George Henry Male Addison (1857–1922). The style of the building may best be described as progressive eclecticism or Indo-Saracenic.[4] The edifice was built over a period of 12 months by over 300 workers. It is entered in the Queensland Heritage Register.
The Queensland Government took over control of the building and grounds when the National Association was forced into liquidation by the economic depression in 1897.[5]
In 1899, the Exhibition Hall became home to the Queensland Museum, with the museum remaining in the building until the museum's relocation to the Queensland Cultural Centre in 1986. During the Queensland Museum's 86 years in the building, other parts of the building were used as a Concert Hall and an Art Gallery. Because of the Queensland Museum's long occupancy of the building, the building is now known as the Old Museum.
In 2016, the building was taken back for Ekka and has since been used for the flower and garden displays.[1]
In 2009 as part of the Q150 celebrations, the Old Museum Building was announced as one of the Q150 Icons of Queensland for its role as a "structure and engineering feat".[8]
