This city lies in the Southeast corner of Queensland, to the South of Brisbane, which is the capital. It prides itself on its subtropical climate. It is a huge tourist attraction, with the beautiful beaches, waterways, nightlife for surfers and many other attractions. No wonder it is also called the ‘Las Vegas of Australia’.
The golden sands of Gold Coast city stretch 57 km along the coastline. The city of Gold Coast is surrounded by the sea in the East, stretches of Beenleigh in the North, the New South Wales border in the South, and the Coastal Mountains to the West. The secrets of nature are unveiled in this natural paradise, with it’s mountains, hills, river valleys, salt and freshwater wetlands. The beauty of the long white beaches can only be imagined. The low sand hills provide a picturesque view of this city.
A little background of this beautiful city will help the visitor appreciate the reality of why thousands of tourists find it so attractive and enthralling.
It is said that Captain James Cook was the first European traveler to sight this place, when he was sailing the coast. This place enchanted him in such a way that he went on to reveal it to the world.
It was in the 1940s that this place came to be referred to as the ‘Gold Coast’. It is not known who has actually given this place its name. But by 1940s, some Brisbane journalists used the name ‘Gold Coast’ to refer to this place that is in the South of Brisbane. During the postwar real estate boom, this place came to be a paradise for buying and selling of land. The local council decided to go with the name Gold Coast, as the name itself has a promotional quality to it.
This place was home for the Yugambeh people, which is the Australian Aboriginal race. They lived here for almost 50,000 years, until the first Europeans; British soldiers and prisoners, arrived here in 1788 and this peaceful land turned into a penal colony. Descendants of those Aboriginal people live on the Gold Coast to this day.
The first people to settle down here were the timber merchants, who while looking for cedar to cut, found this place. In the beginning, the fine surf beaches that are a huge attraction to tourists now, did not attract people, nor did the aesthetically pleasing beauty of this place. The only attraction was the timber found here. It was only when Governor Musgrave, a Governor of Queensland, built a seaside place here as a holiday recourse, people started looking at the city of Gold Coast as a summer get-away, and it has become a fashionable resort to the rich and influential.
Those days people used to get to Gold Coast by horses or on ferries. It was in 1889, that a train has started operating from Brisbane. As this place started becoming famous as a tourist attraction, a road was linked from Brisbane to the beautiful beaches.
This is just a flying account and a summary of the background of the beautiful coastal city of Gold Coast, which today has hordes of tourists visiting to enjoy the wonders this place has to offer.
Visiting this place and experiencing the sun-drenched beaches, rainforests, rugged mountains, countryside, and privy islands is the only way to feel the essence of Gold Coast.
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