Our Conservatorium (the Con), Griffith’s music and performing arts campus, turned 65 this year. It was originally located in the inner Brisbane suburb of South Brisbane before moving to the Queensland University of Technology’s (QUT) Gardens Point campus in 1975. It was a Queensland government owned institution until the federal government began tertiary institution amalgamations in the late 1980s. As a result, the Con officially became part of our university in 1991 and was relocated to its current South Bank location in September of 1996.
Queensland Conservatorium at Gardens Point in 1991. From Griffith Archive.
‘The foundation of the Queensland Conservatorium of Music, which commenced teaching in February of 1957, is strongly enmeshed with notions of state cultural pride.’ Professor Peter Roennfeldt, 2012
The Con has consistently produced artists that have gone on to have successful national and international careers. Con graduates who you may be familiar with include Katie Noonan, Dami Im and Kate Miller-Heidke. Today, according to the QS World University Rankings, the Con is regularly ranked in the Top 50 globally as a performing arts institution.
Find out more about the Con and Griffith’s past on the Griffith Archives website.
