 GOLD
COAST HISTORY
The original settlers in
the Gold Coast region were the Kom-bumerris, an Aboriginal tribe who
referred to the area as Kurrungul. The translation of the term is said
to mean "an abundance of hardwood for boomerangs". The
fresh water supplies in the Bundall area made it the preferred location
for most of the Aboriginal camps.
In his voyage of discovery,
Captain James Cook passed up the coast in 1770 and named Point Danger
and Mount
Warning, the latter being the first place to receive the morning sun
anywhere on the Australian continent.
It was not until the mid
1800's that European settlement started to encroach into the Gold Coast
area when timber getters started felling the prized cedar from the
abundant rainforests. It was not long after that the lush green
countryside attracted pastoral leases and the managers who ran them.
By 1876, commercial
development of the Gold Coast had begun with the establishment of sugar
and cotton industries. The first township was Nerang, boasting
postal services, a school and a hotel.
Nerang serviced the rural
population of farmers and timber workers and became a railhead for their
produce and supplies when the town was linked to the railway in 1889. In
the early years Nerang was an administrative centre for the region with
a courthouse, police station, and meeting place for local councillors.
By 1902, Southport was well
established as a town and boasted a population of 1230. It
gradually assumed many of the administrative roles and Nerang survived
quietly as a picturesque centre of the hinterland. Southport became not
only a resort town, but the business centre of the South Coast.
With the increasing numbers
of visitors making their way to the coast, hotels sprang up to
accommodate them. The railway extension from Nerang to Coolangatta
and Tweed Heads was completed in 1903. By 1904 the first settlers were
taming the hinterland plateau and by 1911, the first school had opened
its doors to 15 students at Springbrook.
Land that eventually
becomes the central business district of Surfers Paradise was offered
for auction in 1915 and at around the same time 19,000 hectares of
rainforest hinterland was proclaimed as the Lamington National Park.
Jim Cavill built the
Surfers Paradise Hotel, a landmark establishment, in 1925 which 'stood
in four acres of garden with a private zoo'. At the southern end of the
coast the town of Coolangatta, so named after the schooner wrecked in
1846, had been established since 1914. Together with Southport at the
northern end, these two towns and everything in between became known as
the South Coast in December 1948.
As early as 1947, surf life
saving was a feature of the South Coast and the first Australian Surf
Championships in Queensland were held at Southport and Coolangatta. By
1949 Paula Stafford had launched her daring two-piece bathing suits that
become known to the world as the bikini.
In the late 1940s, Brisbane
newspapers coined the term "Gold Coast" when referring to real
estate investment opportunities. The name stuck and by 1959 this
lucrative coastal strip was officially known as 'Gold Coast City'.
By 1965, the Gold
Coast Meter Maid
scheme began, with Annette Welch being the first bikini-clad meter maid.
The maids didn't write tickets, they topped up expired meters so that
visitors would be encouraged to stay. In 1972, Sea World opened as the
first of the theme parks and Gold Coast tourism was well and truly on
its way to becoming the thriving business that it is today.
By 1995 the Gold Coast City
area has become the seventh largest city, and one of the fastest
growing, in Australia.
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