Brisbane city council archives building plans

Brisbane City Council Archives

15/107-123 Muriel Ave.
Skyline Business Centre
Moorooka Q 4105
phone +61 (0)7 34031711
email: archives@brisbane.qld.gov.au
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Open:
Monday, Wednesday and Fridays 9am – 2pm
Appointments preferred.

To order a printed or high quality image:

A member of the Archives team will contact you to discuss your order

• The Detail Plans records provide a dated record of Brisbane’s built environment in addition to contour levels.
• Initially created to plan for installation of sewerage pipes across the city, the maps became known as the "Brisbane datum levels" and continue to provide definition of natural ground levels to determine building heights for the city.
• For more information about the history of the plans see our house history guide or this contemporary 1915 article
• The dates for the individual detail plans range from 1912 to 1973, depending on proximity to the inner city. Detail plans were phased out around 1973.

Please be aware that the amount of information recorded on the plans reduces post 1945, this is due to the surveying process becoming quicker, from the late 1960s the plans were drawn from aerial photographs, and as a result they contain less detail than the earlier plans.

• If you are using these plans to try and date a dwelling please note that the detail plans were manually updated AFTER the publication date on the plans. Therefore, it cannot be assumed that everything shown on the published plan was there at the date printed on the plan.
• If in doubt about the exact date for a building consult the Index Registers– these contain all the relevant date information for each plan. Otherwise please contact City Archives.
• You may need to view the original survey field books to determine what the updates were. These can only be viewed at the City Archives.

To locate a plan – visit the Key Map to Detail Plans room