The Yugambeh and the first townships
Several clans of the Yugambeh people hold the Gold Coast as their ancestral home, among them the Kombumerri, Mununjali and Wangerriburra. Europeans reached the region in 1823, when the explorer John Oxley travelled the Tweed River. From the middle of the 19th century, timber from the hinterland drew people to the area. Nerang, in 1865, was the earliest of the small townships from which the city later grew.
Small townships grew along the coast and inland. Nerang, in the west, was surveyed and set up as a base for the timber trade, and a town reserve was in place there by 1870. Burleigh Heads had its own town reserve surveyed by 1873, and land sold well. In 1875 a settlement where the Nerang River meets the sea was surveyed and given the name Southport; it had been called Nerang Heads or Nerang Creek Heads. Its first land sales were set for Beenleigh. Southport soon became known as a quiet retreat for well-off Brisbane residents.
Seaside shacks and the South Coast
After the First World War, the seaside shack appeared: a chance for a coastal "getaway" with modest investment. Between 1914 and 1946 shacks went up all along the South Coast. They were very cheap to build, and putting them together was an early form of recycling. Many used second-hand or low-grade timber, and owners turned to fibro cement, metal containers, spare farm sheds and even retired trams.
The region grew a great deal after the Surfers Paradise Hotel opened in the late 1920s. The area was first called the South Coast, since it lay south of Brisbane. Real estate and other goods and services were over-inflated, and from 1950 the name "Gold Coast" came into use. South Coast residents first took the name as an insult, but it soon became an easy way to speak of the holiday strip between Southport and Coolangatta.
From town to city
On 17 June 1949 the Town of South Coast was created by joining the Town of Coolangatta and the Town of Southport with coastal areas such as Burleigh Heads, which had been part of the Shire of Nerang. The coastal strip of today became one local government area. As tourism grew through the 1950s, local businesses began using Gold Coast in their own names.
On 23 October 1958 the town was renamed the Town of Gold Coast. Less than a year after that, on 16 May 1959, it was proclaimed a city, and its first high-rise was built in 1960. The 1980s brought a boom as the city became a leading tourist destination, with skyscrapers put up across the area. Developers the city called the "white-shoe brigade" shaped that period, along with neon lights and organised crime, including the yakuza and the Russian mafia. In 1994 the council area grew to take in the Shire of Albert.
Later growth and the screen
In 2007 the city's population passed that of Newcastle in New South Wales, making it Australia's sixth largest city and the largest city in the country that is not a capital. The city hosted the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Late in the 20th century, theme parks opened and tourism widened its base; early in the 21st, international film production arrived. Since the 1990s the city has accounted for 75 percent of Queensland's film production, ranking third in Australia behind Sydney and Melbourne.
The first residential canals were dug in the 1950s, and more have followed. Most extend from the Nerang River. Others lie south, beside Tallebudgera Creek and Currumbin Creek, and north alongside South Stradbroke Island, the Gold Coast Broadwater and the Coomera River. Florida Gardens and Isle of Capri were early canals, still being built when a flood came in 1954. Canal frontage homes mostly have pontoons, and the Seaway between The Spit and South Stradbroke Island lets vessels reach the Pacific from The Broadwater.
Timeline
- 1823John Oxley travelled the Tweed River.
- 1865Nerang was the earliest of the small townships.
- 1873Burleigh Heads town reserve surveyed, and land sold well.
- 1875A settlement at the Nerang River was renamed Southport.
- 1949Town of South Coast formed from Coolangatta, Southport and coastal areas.
- 1950The nickname Gold Coast came into use.
- 1958The town was renamed the Town of Gold Coast.
- 1959The area was proclaimed a city.
- 1994The council area grew to take in the Shire of Albert.
- 2007The city became Australia's sixth largest.
Living in the Gold Coast
The built-up area follows the coast for 60 to 70 kilometres, meeting the Greater Brisbane region in the north and the New South Wales border in the south. Southport and Surfers Paradise form the commercial centre, and the Nerang River is the main river. In the west the city reaches the foothills of the Great Dividing Range, where the Lamington National Park protects a 206 square kilometre World Heritage area. Winters are mild to warm and summers hot and humid.
The coastline runs for 70 kilometres, and its beaches are widely known for surfing, with the country's largest professional surf lifesaving service working from them. Waterfront canal living shapes much of the city: more than 260 kilometres of artificial waterways have been made, along with artificial islands, and over 80,000 residents live on constructed residential waterfront land. HOTA is the city's facility for visual and performing arts, with a theatre and two cinemas.
Questions
- How many people live in the Gold Coast?
- The Gold Coast council area had 625,087 people in 2021.
- What is the median age in the Gold Coast?
- The median age in the Gold Coast council area was 39 in 2021.
- What is the history of the Gold Coast?
- The area is the ancestral home of several Yugambeh clans, among them the Kombumerri, Mununjali and Wangerriburra, and it grew from small townships such as Nerang and Southport. The nickname Gold Coast came into use from 1950, and the area was proclaimed a city in 1959.
- What is living in the Gold Coast like?
- The city runs along 70 kilometres of coastline with beaches and surf breaks, and canal estates give many homes waterfront frontage. Inland, the city reaches the foothills of the Great Dividing Range and the Lamington National Park.
- What council is the Gold Coast in?
- The Gold Coast is in the City of Gold Coast local government area, in Queensland.