Spared from floods

Governor Bowen's appreciation, in May 1862, for his new residence Government House was unmistakable. In particular he believed the house was 'beautifully situated on a promontory surrounded on three sides by the River Brisbane'. The promontory known as Gardens Point was prone to inundation or what was light heartedly referred to as having 'water privileges'. For Bowen the appeal of the House's location may have diminished slightly when in February 1863 and again in 1864 flood waters rose and covered large sections of the Point. Fortunately, flood waters from the 1863 and 1864 floods and from Brisbane's seven other major floods including the 2011 flood have never reached the House itself.

To prevent future flooding, and in response to the devastation caused by four separate floods in 1893, the river at the Gardens Point bend was widened and deepened. Gardens Point was reshaped with ten acres (4 ha.) cut off and four acres (1.6 ha.) cut off from Kangaroo Point.