Cavill Mall Surfers Paradise: How Coast’s famous tourist mecca was created

It doesn’t look like much but this is one of the Gold Coast’s best-known streets. It’s changed plenty over the years but this is how it became an iconic location.

SURFERS Paradise needs a revamp.

That was the message from the Gold Coast City Council which this week launched community consultation on a proposed multi-million dollar facelift of the party precinct.

It’s been a decade since Cavill Ave last got a refresh and the wear-and-year is starting to show.

It’s not surprising given the millions of tourists, Schoolies and locals which walk on it yearly.

Children playing in Cavill Ave circa 1976.

The revamp comes a week shy of 44 years since the Gold Coast City Council ordered the beach end of Cavill Ave be blocked off to traffic to create a temporary pedestrian mal.

The idea had first been proposed 65 years ago in 1954 by Sonja Grodek, according to late historian Alexander McRobbie’s 1984 book The Fabulous Gold Coast.

The original idea was for the road between Orchid Ave and the beach blocked off and umbrella-covered seating installed to create a major restaurant area.

FLASHBACK: MERMAID BEACH CINEMA

Cavill Ave had plenty of greenery in the late 1970s.

FLASHBACK: PUTT-PUTT GOLD COAST

It won the backing of the Surfers Paradise Chamber of Commerce in the early 1960s and engineer Jock McIlwain conceived a design which eventually was shown to the Gold Coast City Council.

McIlwain’s idea was for a single-lane of traffic to continue on the northern side but this was not sported.

FLASHBACK: SUNDALE SHOPPING CENTRE’S 50TH ANNIVERSARY

Cavill Ave was the first pedestrian mall in Queensland.

FLASHBACK: QUEENSLAND’S FIRST MCDONALDS ON THE GOLD COAST

But it took until November 1975 for a trial mall to be supported and created, opening in early 1976.

The mall of the late 1970s and early 1980s indeed did feature plenty of dining and umbrellas as well as hanging plant baskets.

FLASHBACK: THE TOP 10 THEME PARK RIDES WE MISS

It looks nothing like this today.

By the early 1980s, it became clear there was support for a permanent mall, something which was approved by Mayor Keith Hunt.

Grundy’s amusement centre and its famous outdoor water slides had already moved and the Paradise Centre was not far away.

FLASHBACK: HOW COAST’S SHOPPING CENTRES HAVE CHANGED

Cavill Ave near the turn into Orchid Ave.

Construction of the $600,000 project began in May 1982.

The seats, tables, giant chess set and many of the coffee shop facilities disappeared, with businesses immediately furious about the downturn sparked by the works.

Charlies Coffee Shop manager Peter Drake said takings were down by between half and three-quarters.

He said he was getting ready to start redecorating and the staff had been kept busy dusting and washing instead of serving customers.

How the Mall looked like after the revamp.

Chemist Ernie Target said the work was having “a very serious” effect on his business and takings were down by 90 per cent.

“Once they start on the footpath we might as well stay home,” he said.

“Once it is done it will be marvellous, I’m just not sure how we will get through in the meantime.”

The work was finished within months and the revamped mall opened in September 1982.

A giant sunken chess board was created as well as an information booth which was leased to the Gold Coast Visitors Bureau.

Grundy’s was a popular location on Cavill Ave in the 1980s.

Alderman Hunt told the Bulletin he was happy with the new Cavill Mall.

“The Cavill Mall has held special significance for this city for a long time,” he said.

“Long before the razzamatazz of Surfers Paradise grew around it, Cavill Mall was the pivot of a happy holiday atmosphere, presented and encouraged by those who laid the first foundations of what we see today.

The Mall in the late-1980s.

SUBSCRIBE TO THE BULLETIN FOR $1 A WEEK FOR THE FIRST 8 WEEKS. (MIN. COST $4)

“In days gone by the girls and boys used to sit on the running boards of their Buicks and Austins and party on, long after the hotels had closed.”

Ald Hunt’s joy at the mall and hopes for what it would become were short-lived.

He died in office just a handful of months later.

But the legacy of the permanent mall continues today with it the centrepiece of Schoolies and New Year’s Eve celebrations.

Surfers Paradise in the 1980s.