Gold Coast trail

The Gold Coast began as a series of small coastal villages. Cobb and Co Coaches provided the earliest road transport from Brisbane to Nerang in 1871, and a coastal steamer serviced Brisbane to Southport. The Brisbane to Southport railway opened in 1889 and the seaside resort boomed. The oldest building in Southport is the 1890s Drill Hall, now a military museum in the Southport Showgrounds. Southport linked Queensland to the world, when in 1902 an international telegraph cable was laid from a cable hut on the dunes at Narrowneck across the Pacific. A sealed road from Brisbane was completed in 1931, sparking further development. During the 1920-30s architects Hall and Phillips designed a number of buildings in Southport. Projects included the Main Beach and Southport bathing pavilions (1934), Southport Surf Lifesaving Club (1934) and the Southport Town Hall (1935). Southport overlooks South Stradbroke Island, where an early fishing hut has been preserved to acknowledge the importance of the local fishing and oystering industries.

The wreck of the iron sailing barque Scottish Prince is located about 2km south of the extremity of the Southport Spit and 500m offshore.

Nearby Surfers Paradise is now dominated by high rise apartments, the oldest of which is the 1960 heritage listed ‘Kinkabool’. Further south near Mudgeeraba, an early dairy farmhouse now hosts the Light Horse Museum.

Towards the hinterland, the road rises to the Springbrook National Park, the centre of the Gondwana Rainforests World Heritage Area. The park has over 30km of walking tracks and tourist information is available from the old school building at Springbrook. An alternate route down the mountain is via the Numinbah Valley where the 1925 School of Arts Hall is still the social heart of the township. Explore Natural Bridge, part of Springbrook National Park, by venturing further south.

West Burleigh grew after the Southport railway was extended south during the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. The 1935 West Burleigh Store was built close to the railway station and served the locals and tourists arriving by train for holidays. Further west, the 1878 Tallebudgera Post office, is located on the route of the original Cobb and Co coach service.

Nature based tourism on the Gold Coast began in the 1920s with Jim Cavill’s zoo at his Surfer’s Paradise Hotel. The coast has since seen a number of similar ventures. Alex Griffiths established the Currumbin Sanctuary in 1947, which evolved from a bird feeding spectacular, to a wildlife park. Nearby, David Fleay’s West Burleigh fauna reserve was established in 1951. Fleay was the first to breed many native species in captivity, and the Parks and Wildlife Service continue his work on research and conservation, while showcasing native animals to tourists and locals.