🎭 New Farm · Riverside

Brisbane Powerhouse

A derelict 1920s power station on the river at New Farm, reopened as one of Australia's more distinctive arts venues — industrial brick and original graffiti kept deliberately intact.

✍️ By Frank Adam Burns 📅 Updated 2026 📍 Brisbane, QLD

The Brisbane Powerhouse is a former tramway power station on the riverbank at New Farm, built in the 1920s, decommissioned in the 1970s and left derelict for two decades before reopening as an arts venue. The conversion deliberately kept the industrial fabric — bare brick, exposed steel and the graffiti left by the years of abandonment.

What Is On

The programme runs year-round across theatre, comedy, music, cabaret, dance and contemporary performance. It leans towards independent and contemporary work rather than large-scale commercial productions, which is what gives it a different character from QPAC across the river.

The venue is a fixture of the Brisbane Comedy Festival, and hosts a substantial share of the city's festival programming through the year.

Several spaces operate inside the building at different scales, so on a given night there may be three separate things running.

The Building

The architecture is the reason to go even without a ticket. The conversion left the turbine hall's proportions, the brick and the steelwork visible, and did not paint over the graffiti from the derelict years — it sits on the walls as part of the fabric.

It is one of the better examples of industrial adaptive reuse in Australia, and the contrast between the raw interior and the contemporary programming is deliberate.

Eating and the River

There is a restaurant and bar on site with a terrace facing the river, and it operates independently of whether you are seeing a show. The outlook across the water is among the better ones in Brisbane.

The Powerhouse sits at the edge of New Farm Park — fifteen hectares of riverside lawn, rose gardens, enormous Moreton Bay figs and one of the city's best playgrounds. The two work together as an afternoon.

The Farmers Market

The Jan Powers Farmers Market runs at the Powerhouse on Saturday mornings and is one of the best-known markets in Brisbane — produce, bakers, coffee and prepared food from regional Queensland growers.

Like all Brisbane markets it is a morning event, busiest from about eight, and the best produce goes early. Pairing the market with a walk through New Farm Park is the standard local Saturday.

From Power Station to Ruin to Venue

The building generated electricity for Brisbane's tram network from the 1920s. When the trams were withdrawn in 1969 the station's purpose went with them, and it was decommissioned in the 1970s.

What followed is the interesting part. The building sat derelict for roughly two decades — stripped of machinery, open to the weather, and used by squatters, artists and graffiti writers. That period is why the interior looks as it does.

The conversion, completed in 2000, made a deliberate decision that most adaptive reuse projects do not: keep the evidence. The graffiti from the abandoned years was retained rather than painted over, alongside the bare brick, the exposed steel and the scars where machinery was removed.

The result is a venue where the building's whole life is visible at once — industrial, abandoned, then cultural. It has become one of the more cited examples of industrial adaptive reuse in Australia.

What the Programme Is Actually Like

The Powerhouse programmes across theatre, comedy, cabaret, circus, dance, music and contemporary performance, and the character is independent and contemporary rather than large-scale commercial.

That is the meaningful difference from QPAC across the river, which handles the touring musicals, the orchestra and the big-ticket productions. If you want a West End musical, that is QPAC. If you want new Australian work, a comedian working out an hour, or something that does not fit a conventional stage, that is here.

The venue is a fixture of the Brisbane Comedy Festival, which runs across several weeks and fills the building's multiple spaces simultaneously. It also carries a share of the Brisbane Festival programme each September.

Several performance spaces operate at different scales, so on a given night there may be three separate shows running — worth checking the full listing rather than the headline.

Going Without a Ticket

You do not need to see a show to make the trip worthwhile, and this is underused.

The building is open through the day, the industrial interior is free to walk through, and the restaurant and bar operate independently of the performance programme with a terrace facing the river. The outlook across the water towards Bulimba is among the better ones in Brisbane.

There are usually visual arts exhibitions in the public spaces, also free.

New Farm Park, Next Door

The Powerhouse sits at the edge of New Farm Park, and the two work together as an afternoon.

The park runs to about fifteen hectares of riverside lawn with enormous Moreton Bay figs, some over a century old, whose buttressed roots and deep shade are the reason locals treat this as the city's best picnic ground. There is a substantial rose garden, free electric barbecues, and one of Brisbane's better playgrounds under natural shade.

It is a genuinely local park rather than a visitor attraction, which is most of its appeal on a Saturday afternoon.

The Jan Powers Farmers Market

The market runs at the Powerhouse on Saturday mornings and is among the best known in Brisbane.

It leans genuinely agricultural — regional Queensland growers with fruit, vegetables, meat, seafood, cheese and bread — alongside coffee, prepared food and a few makers. It is a shopping market that visitors enjoy, rather than a tourist market that sells produce.

Go early. It opens in the morning, is busiest from about eight, and the best produce goes in the first two hours. Parking is difficult; the CityCat is the answer.

The standard local Saturday is market first, coffee under the figs in New Farm Park, then the walk back along the Riverwalk into the city — and it costs the fare.

Getting There

The CityCat to New Farm Park terminal is the easiest arrival, about fifteen minutes from the CBD at Queensland's 50-cent flat fare, with a short walk to the building.

The Riverwalk connects New Farm to the CBD on foot — a floating boardwalk on the river itself, roughly forty minutes at a comfortable pace, flat and sealed with no steps. It is one of the best free walks in Brisbane and turns a show into an evening.

Buses run along Brunswick Street. Parking is limited and competitive on market mornings and show nights, which is the main argument for the ferry.

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