FULL UP? THREE FREE AND FOODLESS INNER-CITY EXPERIENCES

LIFE IN IRONS: BRISBANE’S CONVICT STORIES

A sobering look at the penal colony that marked the beginning of extensive European settlement and the displacement of indigenous people. Some 3000 men and women were imprisoned between 1824 and 1839 in prisons established by the British government to “. . . reinstate transportation as an object of real terror to all classes of society”. Until October 28. museumofbrisbane.com.au

CLOCK TOWER TOURS

Don’t be alarmed by the water bottles, bucket and toilet paper stashed in the corner of the original 1930s handoperated lift. Breakdowns, reassured our guide, are rare. The lift travels past the Art Deco clockface to a platform 64m above the city. On Friday nights an “after dark” experience operates until 6.45pm. Daily, every 15 minutes. museumofbrisbane.com.au

A WALKING TOUR WITH BRISBANE GREETERS

The daily tour departs from outside City Hall, but you can also book a “your choice” experience. My walk focused on public art ran the gamut from the moving John Elliott sculpture of St Mary MacKillop, made from a century-old camphor laurel tree, to Fred Whitehouse’s cheeky bats and possums straddling Victorian lamp-posts (the artist is the grand-nephew of British sculptor Henry Moore. Duck down Burnett Lane (a former prison exercise yard) for installations from Blu Art Xinja, anti-apartheid murals and other street art. Daily, 10am. brisbanegreeters.com.au