Weekend journal

The longer stories that did not fit on the practical pages. Each entry is dated and lists its sources at the bottom.

The night the Treasury Casino closed
Why the old casino at the top of the Queen Street Mall shut four days before Queen's Wharf opened, and what happens to its building.
Who was Neville Bonner?
The man the bridge to South Bank is named after, and the bronze bust waiting at its northern end.
A Saturday morning with the public art
The 90-minute guided tour that starts at Lindy Lee's bronze and ends on the Sky Deck — and how to fit it before check-in.
The Star Grand or the Treasury Hotel?
Two hotels a few minutes apart, one new and one in a 1901 sandstone building. What the official pages say about each.

We add an entry when something changes at Queen's Wharf that would change how you plan a weekend — a venue opening, a rule, a new event. If you think we have missed something, write to us at hello@queenswharfweekend.com.

Send us your weekend dates

Tell us when you arrive and leave, how many of you there are and which room you are after. Our room desk checks availability and the current rate at The Star Grand for those dates, then writes back by email with what we found — usually the same day.

A request is not a booking and we never ask for card details on this site. If you like what we send, the reservation itself is made with the hotel or with the booking partner that holds the room.

How we are paid: if your request turns into a confirmed stay, the hotel or the booking partner that completes the reservation pays us a commission. You pay the same rate either way — see our revenue disclosure.