Queensland is the second largest and third most populous state of Australia. It occupies the north-east corner of the mainland continent. The state is neighboured by the Northern Territory to the west, South Australia to the south-west and New South Wales to the south. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean.

The area was first colonised by Indigenous Australians and Torres Strait Islanders, who arrived between 40 000 and 65 000 years ago, according to various dating methods. Later, Queensland was made a British Crown Colony that was separated from New South Wales in 1859. The area that currently forms Brisbane was originally the Moreton Bay penal colony, intended as a place for recidivist convicts who had offended while serving out their sentences in New South Wales. The state later encouraged free settlement, and today Queensland's economy is dominated by the agricultural, tourist and natural resource sectors.

The population is concentrated in the south-east corner, which includes the capital Brisbane, Ipswich, Logan City, and the Gold and Sunshine Coasts. Other major regional centres include Cairns, Townsville, Mackay, Rockhampton, Bundaberg, Toowoomba, and Mount Isa. Queensland is often nicknamed the Sunshine State, since it enjoys warm weather and a sizable portion of the state is in the tropics.

On Friday, 9 December 2005 the population of Queensland officially reached 4 million. Queensland is the fastest growing state in Australia, with over fifteen hundred people moving to the state per week. 1000 in the southern part of the state alone. Once you calculate immigration and migration, (People Arriving in QLD-Minus-Queenslanders Leaving,) Queensland is left with a healthy number of people staying in Queensland. Predictions have been made to show that Queensland will become Australia's 2nd most populous state by the late 2020s.

Brisbane has multi-campus universities and colleges including the University of Queensland (A member of the Group of Eight), Queensland University of Technology and Griffith University. Other universities which have campuses in Brisbane include the Australian Catholic University, Central Queensland University, James Cook University, the University of the Sunshine Coast and the University of Southern Queensland.

Queensland Universities: University of Queensland, Bond University, Central Queensland University, James Cook University, University of Southern Queensland, University of the Sunshine Coast, Griffith University, Queensland University of Technology.

Brisbane also has TAFE colleges including the Bremer Institute of TAFE, Brisbane North Institute of TAFE, Metropolitan South Institute of TAFE and the Southbank Institute. Other independent tertiary education providers include the Australian College of Natural Medicine, the Brisbane College of Theology, QANTM, Brisbane College of Photography and Art as well as Jschool: Journalism Education & Training.

Brisbane is covered under the jurisdiction of Education Queensland regarding public primary and high schools. (Ref. Wikipedia)