Locals head back to Burleigh Heads after the hill was destroyed by surfing competitions
As work continues to restore Burleigh Hill, Gold Coast mayor Tom Tate has compared the “mud pit” to a backyard barbecue.
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The swell is back at Burleigh and so are the locals, as work continues to restore the headland in the wake of surf events.
While red flags roped off most of the parkland on Thursday morning, the former mud pit had been resurfaced, ready for new turf to be laid.
Gold Coast mayor Tom Tate confirmed on Thursday organisers were fixing the issue and paying for it themselves.
“You can’t control Mother Nature,” Mr Tate said.
“It was a successful event.
“If you have a barbecue at home and a lot of people are there and it rains, you will have to fix your lawn out the back.
“It’s the same thing.”
More than 100,000 people attended the Gold Coast Pro, part of the World Surf League Championship Tour, earlier in May.
Locals said a “putrid-smelling mud pit” was left, despite organisers attempting to minimise the damage.
On Thursday, a majority of parking on Goodwin Terrace had reopened, except for a handful of parks opposite the caravan park street entrance reserved for work vehicles.
The children’s playground, Oceanway and tracks through the national park were also open.
‘What a disgrace’: Burleigh hill destroyed after surfing events
Burleigh locals question how council can endorse “months” of damage and disruption in the aftermath of blockbuster surfing contests with a “putrid-smelling mud pit” left in their wake.
World Surf League Championship Tour event the Bonsoy Gold Coast Pro was hailed a spectator success with more than 100,000 people piling into its temporary Burleigh base, but the hangover for the suburb’s iconic hill overlooking the surf action hasn’t gone down as well.
As of Friday morning, organisers were still packing up at Burleigh Headland, with most of the parkland and public parking at the southern end of Goodwin Terrace closed to the public.
It follows an extended bump-in period that put much of the beloved Gold Coast beauty spot off limits at Easter, and comes after April’s Australian Boardriders Battle. It’s also not over – more rain is forecast this weekend and the eight-day Solento Surf Festival will take over Burleigh June 7-14.
A Gold Coast City Council (GCCC) spokesperson said they were aware of the damage left by the events but said the pros outweighed the cons.
“The recent surfing events at Burleigh were attended by tens of thousands of people contributing millions of dollars into the local economy and our city, coastline and world-class surf breaks were beamed to millions of viewers worldwide,” they said.
“This type of economic contribution and global exposure is invaluable to our city.
“The City will continue to work with event organisers to review practices and identify improvements when planning for future events.”
The GCCC spokesperson said a “restoration plan” was being developed and returfing the area would likely take four to six weeks depending on the weather.
“Once the WSL Pro event has been bumped out, a full damage assessment will be done and works will commence.
“Event organisers are responsible for all costs associated with rectifying any damage as a result of the event.”
The Bulletin understands Gold Coast Pro organisers went to considerable effort and expense to minimise impact on the site, laying sand and protective matting over the area damaged by the earlier surf event, but it wasn’t enough in the face of continual wet weather.
“Bad isn’t it – looks like they’ve been driving a rotary hoe over it,” an events source said.
A World Surf League Asia Pacific spokesman said southeast Queensland had larger than expected autumn rainfall, particularly the past four weeks.
“We arrived at a site already damaged from the bump-out of a previous Australian Boardriders Battle event at the same location,” the spokesman said.
“Due to this, we invested in a number of measures to mitigate further damage to the area.
“(A) heavy-duty temporary flooring system enables cars, trucks and other vehicles to travel over all types of terrain. This mitigates the ground from getting impacted and creating further mud, and prevents further damage.
“The move to Burleigh was always a one-year solution to the situation we faced due to damage at Snapper from (Cyclone) Alfred.
“We look forward to returning to the perfect waves of Snapper Rocks in 2026 after an amazing off-event at Burleigh in 2025.”
The mud-slinging is intensifying online.
“Wow Burleigh hill what a disgrace well done completely destroyed,” local Fred Baker posted to the Burleigh and Miami Community group on Facebook.
Resident Steve Smith was among the hordes who enjoyed the world-class surfing from the headland, but questioned the length of the disruption.
‘I’m not a surfer, but enjoy my daily Burleigh Hill time watching all the surfing,” he said.
“Also understand the importance of attracting and retaining major events. I spent hours watching the WSL from the hill.
“What I can’t understand is the area has been closed off for essentially several weeks for what equated to four days of comp. They are still dismantling everything today (Thursday).
“The grassland is destroyed and in many places just a putrid smelling mud pit and will take months and probably in excess of $100000 to recover which will be worse if we get a wet winter.”
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