Gold Coast: Fun Facts about the Glitter Strip Every Queenslander Should Know!

Gold Coast is one of the most popular areas of Queensland known for its beautiful beaches, laid-back lifestyle, and abundance of tourist places. Over the years, the golden strip has become home to numerous diverse communities and emerged as one of the leading tourism, business and events cities of Queensland. Although the Gold Coast is featured heavily in media, there are many facts Queenslanders don’t know about it. Thus, read on if you want to know more.

• Before the Europeans came and settled here, the Gold Coast and its hinterland was a zone of timbered mountains, river valleys, hills, salt/freshwater wetlands, and floodplain.
• It was home to the aboriginal tribe of the Yugambeh who lived as family clans along the river valleys and estuaries of the section.
• Many descendants of aboriginal people still live in the Gold Coast and many names of the places may have changed but many remain the same like Nerang, Coombabah etc.
• In the 1800s, Gold Coast was popular destination for timber getters who came here for valuable cedar to take to the emerging city of Sydney and the Brisbane’s convict settlement.
• After the convict settlement was abolished and free settlers were allowed to take residence in Queensland, people started to inhabit the river valleys of the area that would become the Gold Coast. They bred cattle and formed sugar, cotton and dairy farms.
• The Gold Coast is a sunny city with wonderful beaches and gets an estimated 300 days of sunshine per year. The city has a humid subtropical climate with mild to warm winters and hot and humid summers making it the best beach land!
• The city is sixth largest of other cities in Australia and it is even bigger than two capital cities of the country.
• Since the Gold Coast is a coastal city with many beaches, it is home to the biggest professional lifeguard service in the country.
• Since Gold Coast is a major tourist destination, it is no surprise that over 13 million people visit the city per year and their arrival contributes to over $6 billion to the economy.
• The gold coast has about 57 kilometres of beaches that maintain a general temperature of 22 degrees Celsius.
• Since long, the beaches of Gold Coast have witnessed erosion and in series of 11 cyclones in 1967 removed most of the sand from its beaches. The Government of Queensland took many measures to fight this issue.
• The Gold Coast City Council spends about $32 million per year to maintain the beaches and the waterways. This sum is taken from the budget of over $1.5 billion.
• In the southern hemisphere, the city has the biggest concentration of themed attractions and Q1 in Surfers Paradise is the largest residential tower.

The Bottom Line

There are many fun and interesting things people don’t know about the Gold Coast. Hopefully, the facts stated above have improved your knowledge of the golden strip of Queensland and helped you see the city is more than a tourist destination. It has a rich history and its present is exciting.