Used as a showground since 1876, the Exhibition Grounds (locally known as the Ekka) have a long association with the Royal National Agricultural and Industrial Association of Queensland (RNA). Because of it’s wide open area close to the centre of the city, the exhibition grounds have been used as military camping grounds during a number of conflicts. In that time the RNA’s Exhibition have only been cancelled twice: once after WWI during the 1919 influenza epidemic, and again in 1942 when the grounds were occupied by military personnel.

The Ekka had been used for military tournaments during the 1890s, and when heavy rain in late December 1899 flooded the Pinkenba mobilisation camp for Queensland troops bound for South Africa, they were evacuated to the Exhibition Grounds. From January to late March 1900 the grounds were as a campsite for assembling contingents. During WWI [1914–18] a recruiting and training camp, complete with rifle range, was established at the Exhibition Grounds, though the annual Exhibition occurred with minor interruption. Returning servicemen from the war brought with them the influenza virus which was devastating Europe, and the grounds were used to erect isolation wards for the nearby Brisbane General Hospital.