Browne Park is a rectangular football stadium located in the Rockhampton suburb of Wandal, Queensland, Australia. The venue has been the home of rugby football in Central Queensland since 1890 and today also hosts rugby union and soccer matches. It hosted a match of the 2008 Rugby League World Cup.^[2] The ground was named Browne Park in 1958 as a posthumous honour to long serving president of Rockhampton Rugby League, Jack Browne who died in office.^[3][4]

The Central Queensland Capras play all Queensland Cup home games at Browne Park in Rockhampton. Browne Park is seen as the home of rugby league in Central Queensland and is located between George Street (Bruce Highway) and Murray Street.

In July 2021, it was announced Browne Park would host its first National Rugby League game.^[5] It was selected as the venue for the Round 20 NRL game between the St. George Illawarra Dragons and the South Sydney Rabbitohs.^[5] The announcement came after the Sydney and Canberra rugby league teams relocated to South East Queensland due to the COVID-19 outbreak in Sydney.^[5]

However, the game at Browne Park was suddenly and unexpectedly cancelled just hours before kick-off on 31 July 2021 after a COVID-19 outbreak in Brisbane originating from a cluster detected at Indooroopilly State High School forced a snap lockdown in South East Queensland.^[6][7] The South Sydney Rabbitohs had already landed at Rockhampton Airport when the decision was made to cancel the game.^[7] The team were instructed to fly back to Brisbane without disembarking the aircraft while the St George Illawarra Dragons had not yet departed Brisbane.^[7] Organisers advised all ticketholders would be refunded and they were hopeful the city could secure another NRL game in the future.^[8]

The Rockhampton NRL game had generated considerable hype around Central Queensland with local newspaper CQ Today even publishing a special "NRL Souvenir Edition" with an eight page wraparound featuring numerous stories relating to the historic game at Browne Park.^[9] The Rockhampton game was also promoted as a "homecoming" for both Dragons coach Anthony Griffin and captain Ben Hunt who were both born in the city.^[10]

On 13 August 2021 it was announced Browne Park would host two NRL games to make up for the disappointment over the cancellation of the Round 20 game.^[11] The venue selected to host both the Round 23 match between the Wests Tigers and the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, and the Round 24 fixture between the St George Illawarra Dragons and the North Queensland Cowboys.^[11]

Tickets were capped at 5,000.^[11] The first game on 21 August 2021 where the Sharks beat the Tigers 50-20 attracted a crowd of 2,863 people while the presence of a Queensland-based team the following week boosted the attendance with 4,487 people watching the Cowboys defeat the Dragons 38-26 on 28 August 2021.^[12]

Browne Park hosted an Elimination Final Match as part of the 2021 NRL Finals Series on 12 September 2021. The match was between the Parramatta Eels and the Newcastle Knights. The Eels won 28-20. ^[13]

The NRL games at Browne Park in 2021 came six years after an initial proposal for Rockhampton to host an NRL match.^[14] Following the impact of Cyclone Marcia on the city and region in 2015, a proposal for an NRL game to be held at Browne Park was put forward by Central Queensland NRL bid chairman Geoff Murphy and mayor Margaret Strelow.^[15] It culminated in Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and state MP Bill Byrne announcing that the Queensland Government had agreed to in-principle support for the event, allocated $250,000 for the city to host the game in August 2015, speculated to have been the Round 24 clash between the Gold Coast Titans and the Canberra Raiders.^[16][17][18]

However, NRL chief executive Dave Smith announced the following month that due to budget constraints, there would be no NRL game in Rockhampton in 2015.^[19] Strelow described the decision as "a bitter blow".^[20]

In 2004, Browne Park was transformed into one of Queensland's best regional rugby league venues. The field was moved just on 10 metres towards the Albert Street (hill end) boundary to accommodate the redevelopment of the Rockhampton Leagues Club. This process saw the introduction of a new irrigation system, new lighting towers and new entrance to the ground.

At the end of the 2006 season, construction began on a new grandstand along the George Street side of the field. The undercover George Street Grandstand, now completed, has 614 colourful bucket seats, which are also closer to the field for an improved viewing experience. It was named in honour of local rugby league identity Nev Callaghan.^[22]

Browne Park currently has a seating capacity of approximately 5,200.

The lighting at Browne Park has three levels - training, match and professional - with the latter providing in excess of 600 lux on illumination. The towers are in excess of 40m tall with 16 bulbs affixed to each tower.

Browne Park is also host to all forms of rugby league ranging from juniors and primary schools to the seniors that compete in the domestic Rockhampton competition and the Central Queensland Extended League competition.

Apart from the regular season Rugby League games, Browne Park hosted the Capricorn Cougars Football for the second season in 2007, as well as the Bundaberg Rum Bush Fund Legends of League Charity Match in early October 2007.^[37][38]

Browne Park hosted the 7th Place Playoff of the 2008 Rugby League World Cup in November.^[2] The test match, in which Tonga beat Scotland, attracted a crowd of almost 6,000.^[2][39] With Centenary Celebrations also set for Rockhampton, Browne Park will likely become a leading regional facility in Australia.