Get ready to fall in love with Brisbane, inspired by Trent Dalton
FEATURE
By Emma Vidgen
Trent Dalton’s love for Brisbane is well-documented. The Queensland capital is a main character in much of his writing, which vividly captures the city’s identity and charm – often in locales you’d least expect.
The Netflix adaptation of his book Boy Swallows Universe gave rise to a new brand of literary tourism, with fans flocking to suburban outposts like Darra and The Gap to explore the everyday places that captured the author’s imagination.
In the spirit of his work, celebrating the beauty of things in plain sight, we asked Trent to share his own personal guide to Brisbane.
So, whether you’re a local or simply visiting for a weekend, drop a pin in these special spots to see the river city through the eyes of one of its most loyal portraitists.
The spot I love to people-watch with a takeaway coffee is…
Brisbane’s King George Square with a takeaway coffee from Shingle Inn. Sitting on one of the square’s public seats, leaning on a lion sculpture, it’s all good.
Beneath my favourite structure in Brisbane: the mighty Brisbane City Hall clock tower, setting for the all-or-nothing finale of my debut novel, Boy Swallows Universe, and the thing that towered over me every day when I sat on the corner of Adelaide and Albert Street gathering the stories for Love Stories.
City Hall, Brisbane. Photo by @pignwhistleofficial
The spot I love for quiet contemplation is…
There’s a rock wall beneath the Victoria Bridge, on the South Bank side of the bridge, not far from the Victoria Bridge Abutment. It’s the most peaceful place to sit and think while watching the Brisbane River roll on by.
It’s the place where I met a woman named Moana in the Love Stories book. She said she would tell me a love story in the time it took her to smoke a cigarette on smoko. She told me the most wondrous story about why she loves the Brisbane River.
Archives Fine Books, Brisbane. Photo by @peteandchadmade
The spot I love for a solo lunch with a book is…
AJ Vietnamese Noodle House on Charlotte Street in Brisbane CBD. Grab yourself a second-hand book from Archives Fine Books (40 Charlotte Street, Brisbane) just up the street a bit – a breathtaking bookshop that you could get lost in for hours – and then go read it over a combination egg noodle soup at AJs. Heaven.
The spot I love to beat the heat and cool off in summer is…
Sandgate Swimming Pool. A sacred place for me and my brothers when I was a boy. Avalon. Shangri-La. Xanadu. And it only cost a dollar or so to enter back then. Nothing I love more than a crumbed cod and chips from Fish on Flinders, on Flinders Parade, smelling the salt air, watching kids sprinting across low tide mud flats and remembering what it was to be eight years old and alive to the natural wonders of the universe.
The Tivoli, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane
The spot I love to catch some live music is…
The Tivoli, where I recently saw Sharon Van Etten tear the roof off. The Fortitude Music Hall. The Princess Theatre. All incredible venues to see local and international acts. Very much miss The Zoo but its memory lives on in all our hearts. I also have a very soft spot for the Brisbane Entertainment Centre where I first saw Pearl Jam in 1995 on the band’s blistering and triumphant Vitalogy tour.
The spot I love for a cheap feed with kids is…
Que Heong Restaurant in Darra. The best restaurant in the Southern Hemisphere. You can feed six people for a feast for less than $100. The chilli crab is a Queensland treasure! The owners are the loveliest family around and they so kindly let us shoot scenes for the Netflix Boy Swallows Universe series inside their hallowed restaurant.
The Ekka, Brisbane. Photo by @theekka
The spot I love that always delivers a uniquely Brisbane sensory experience is…
The Ekka. The place is a sensory overload. Smells especially. Sacred smell of cow dung mixed with fried dagwood dog batter. My happy place. The taste of strawberry sundaes and Bertie Beetles. The sound of the woodchopping. The vision of sideshow alley. Never gets old to me. Bringing my children to it only enhanced my love for it.
Rick Shores, Burleigh Heads, Gold Coast
The weekend day trip from Brisbane I love most is…
Burleigh Heads. It’s our second home. Social Brew and Tarte for morning coffee. Burleigh Heads Fishmongers for lunch. Rick Shores if we’re lucky to jag a table. Back home from the best Saturday of the year.
The spot I love to catch up with old friends is…
The Full Moon Hotel in Sandgate. Classic Queensland pub on the rise of Eagle Terrace overlooking Moreton Bay. Had my 20-year high school reunion there a while back and it was the perfect spot to catch up with my dearest old friends. The beer always tastes better with best friends.
Boondall Wetlands, Brisbane. Photo by @visitbrisbane
The unexpectedly nostalgic spot I love most is…
The Boondall Wetlands. Huge and important natural place to me when I was a kid growing up in Bracken Ridge. That’s where you get lost in nature. And dream. Dream up all sorts of impossible things, like one day writing a book about the wonders of Bracken Ridge.
The event I’m most looking forward to seeing at Brisbane Festival is…
Well, aside from sitting beside my wife, Fiona Franzmann, at the opening night of Love Stories – to which we both contributed to the writing of – I would say Eucalyptus at the Concert Hall, an opera adaptation of Murray Bail's classic book.
Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane.
If you only have 24 hours in Brisbane, make sure you…
If time is of the essence, why not go make the most of your time by studying the wonders of time with a Brisbane City Hall clock tower tour? Totally free and they run tours almost every half hour. Then walk across the Victoria Bridge to catch what’s on in the museum and art galleries. If it’s footy season, catch a Broncos game in the greatest stadium in all the world … Suncorp Stadium.
Brisbane Festivals runs 30 August - 21 September. Discover the best events and showstopping performances - including Trent Dalton's Love Stories - with this guide.
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