Surfers Paradise (pop. 45,197) is a suburb of the Gold Coast region of Queensland, Australia. The town is a popular tourist center famous for its hotels, skyscrapers, and sports facilities.
The Pacific Ocean borders Surfers Paradise to the east. The Nerang River forms the town’s northwestern border and flows across the plain on which Surfers Paradise stands. Much of the town’s residential area developed on small islands in the Nerang River.
The town has a variety of attractions, chief among them Surfers Paradise Beach. The town was named for the waves at the beach. Other well-known sites include Macintosh Park and the Q1 Tower, one of the tallest residential buildings in the world. The Surfers Paradise area has several theme parks, which make it a popular vacation spot for families.
Surfers Paradise has hosted many sporting events, including the Vodafone Gold Coast 600 automobile racing event and the Magic Millions horse racing event. In addition, the town regularly hosts art and music festivals, as well as a national sand-sculpting competition.
The Yugambeh peoples, an Aboriginal language group of the Gold Coast, are the traditional inhabitants of the Surfers Paradise area. John Oxley, the surveyor-general of the British colony of New South Wales, led an expedition into what is now southern Queensland in the early 1800’s. By the mid-1800’s, the land around Surfers Paradise was being used for logging and agriculture. This area was called Elston in the late 1800’s. The nearby towns of Nerang and Southport were established as the population grew.
As settlement expanded, the region’s transportation systems also developed. The area’s first railway line was constructed in 1889. In the 1920’s, a coastal road was built between Southport and Brisbane. The first bridge across the Nerang River from Southport to Elston opened in 1925. Also in 1925, James Cavill built the first Surfers Paradise Hotel near Elston Beach. Elston was renamed Surfers Paradise in 1933. Throughout the 1900’s and into the 2000’s, the town’s economy has developed around tourism.
