Gold Coast Suburbs: What did they used to look like?
A look back on the evolution of the GC
We love our Gold Coast. From it's world class beaches to it's tranquil hinterland, our city is full of culture and so very rich in history.
For example, did you know Surfers Paradise used to be named Elston? Or that in WW2 Americans commandeered the beach at Coolangatta to establish a rest area? Did you know we were nicknamed the Gold Coast due to inflated prices for real estate? Well there's a reason for that!
Brace yourself, because we're about to take you back to the humble beginings of our once quiet little town and show you just how far we've come in the last 100 years!
ASHMORE
ESTABLISHED: 1972
The area's name derives from a locality or family property in England. Also a local thoroughfare with residents travelling from Benowa Road to Nerang Road, the suburb was officially perpetuated in 1976 when a housing estate was developed in the area called Ashmore Village.
BENOWA
ESTABLISHED: 1870
The name was originally derived from the Bundjalung word "Boonow", meaning bloodwood tree.
BROADBEACH
ESTABLISHED: 1934
IN 1934 the South Coast Bulletin announced a new seaside township had been surveyed fronting the Pacific Highway and adjoining Main Beach, about one mile south of Surfers Paradise.The township had been appropriately named Broadbeach and the first section of the site had been surveyed into 70 allotments.
BUNDALL
ESTABLISHED: 1862
The name Bundall is from the Aboriginal word for a species of prickly vine.
BURLEIGH HEADS
ESTABLISHED: 1871
Indigenous Australians inhabited the area of Burleigh Heads for thousands of years prior to European settlement. The Indigenous tribe were known as the Kombumerri people, who had named the area 'Jellurgal'. James Warner was commissioned to survey the coastline near Moreton Bay. Warner named the headlands near Tallebudgera Creek, 'Burly Head' because of its massive appearance. Decades later the name was adapted to the more genteel spelling of 'Burleigh Heads'
CARRARA
ESTABLISHED: 1960s
The name Carrara comes from the Aboriginal word 'Karara' meaning 'long flat'.
CHEVRON ISLAND
ESTABLISHED: 1955
Prior to this land reclamation, the Nerang River was wide and shallow with many sandbanks with shifting riverbanks. Through dredging, deeper channels were created for shipping in the river with the spoil being used to create inhabitable islands and permanent river edge embankments, all of which facilitated residential and commercial development.
COOLANGATTA
ESTABLISHED: 1883
Coolangatta is named after the schooner Coolangatta which was wrecked there in 1846.
COOMERA
ESTABLISHED: 1865
The name Coomera comes from the Yugambeh word kumera, a species of wattle.
CURRUMBIN
The word Currumbin is of native origin and means quicksand. In the old days of travel along the coast, there was a ford across the creek at Currumbin which could be negotiated at low tide, but had to be carefully taken owing to the quicksand which was prevalent in Currumbin Creek.
ISLE OF CAPRI
Farmers transported harvested sugar cane to the Benowa Sugar Mill. Later the land was used for dairy farming until developers Efim Zola and Sir Bruce Small acquired land which they called Isle of Capri, a catalyst for future commercial and residential development.
KIRRA
ESTABLISHED: 1840
There's variations on what the word Kirra actually means, but some believe Queensland Aborigines named it after a boomerang.
LABRADOR
ESTABLISHED: 1878
Robert Muir is believed to have named the area after the Labrador Peninsula, a large coastal fishery located in north eastern Canada.
MAIN BEACH
ESTABLISHED: 1934
During the early years in which Southport was the urban centre of recreational activity at the coast, visitors were ferried across the Broadwater to surf at the Main Beach so named because it was the main surf beach for the town of Southport.
MERMAID BEACH
ESTABLISHED: 1925
Mermaid Beach received its name from the cutter HMS Mermaid. Explorer John Oxley sailed aboard the Mermaid in 1823 when he discovered the nearby Tweed and Brisbane rivers.
MERRIMAC
ESTABLISHED: 1873
The community takes its name from two possible sources: the Merrimack River in the New England region of the United States, or the USS Merrimac, a Union navy frigate itself named for the river.
MIAMI & NOBBYS
ESTABLISHED: 1920s
In the early 1920s, prospective investors were looking over plans for a new real estate development called Miami Shore at North Burleigh. They built their wooden or fibro bungalows on estates such as Miami Shore, spent their holidays by the beach, or rented the cottages to other holiday makers.
The less well-heeled pitched their tents at Burleigh Heads and then walked and fished along the beautiful beach flanked by the two Nobbies. The name Nobbies was a relic from the days when Burleigh local, timber getter and bullocky, Frederick Fowler, had grazed his head bullock, which he called Nobby, along the headlands.
MUDGEERABA
ESTABLISHED: 1868
Mudgeeraba is apparently an Aboriginal word meaning place of sticky soil.
NERANG
ESTABLISHED: 1865
Early writers suggest that the Nerang river was named by Europeans after the local dialect word neerang, meaning either little or shovel nosed shark.
OXENFORD
PALM BEACH
ESTABLISHED: 1873
Henry Jordan, a Queensland parliamentarian and sugar planter living in the Logan area, selected much of the coastal land between Tallebudgera and Currumbin Creeks in 1873. Gradually, Jordan added to his block. His property encompassed today's Palm Beach, Elanora, and Currumbin Waters.
ROBINA
ESTABLISHED: 1980
Before the construction of Robina Town Centre shopping complex and the Robina Railway Station, the suburb of Robina Town Centre was formerly known as Kerrydale.
RUNAWAY BAY
ESTABLISHED: 1967
The name "Runaway Bay" was coined to promote the area as a tranquil retreat.
SANCTUARY COVE
ESTABLISHED: 1986
SOUTHPORT
ESTABLISHED: 1874
Originally known as Nerang Creek Heads, it was named Southport because it was the southernmost port of the colony of Queensland.
SURFERS PARADISE
ESTABLISHED: 1933
Around 1920, Brisbane hotelier, Jim Cavill, acquired twenty five acres of land in an area known as Elston - the place we know now as Surfers Paradise.
TALLEBUDGERA
ESTABLISHED: 1840s
The village of Tallebudgera was originally known as Maybree which was the name of a certain tree that grew in the area.
TUGUN
ESTABLISHED: 1898
Tugun's name is believed to have derived from an Indigenous word of unknown dialect meaning "breaking waves".
So now that you know a little bit more about all of the suburbs that make up the city of Gold Coast - which one do you think is the best?
Let us know in the comments!