History

News/transport 1934 Boats anchored in creek near Beenleigh. .Neg no A2246. GLASS NEGATIVE.Picture by File Photo .The Courier-Mail Photo Archive.Scanned September 2012

The township the Gold Coast lost

THE Gold Coast lost a township. This place was once proudly all fire and cane, renowned for its rum. Beenleigh, you could be forgiven for thinking it’s buggered but you’re wrong.

Viscount Ted Deerhurst holding his surfboard & top hat, known as The Lord of the Waves due to his surfing lifestyle in 1978 file pic when he lived at Burleigh Heads.P/

History

Coast’s forgotten pro-surfer legend

IMAGINE being the heir to one of the world’s most famous titles, only to give it all up to surfer the Gold Coast’s beaches. This is the amazing true story of our very own ‘Lord of the waves’.

David Johnson, 85, talking to the Bulletin about his role as an 18-year-old athletics sprinter at the 1950 Empire Games in Auckland (as the Games were known then). David picked up a silver medal in the 220 yards and a gold medal in the men's 4x110 yards relay. Picture: Jerad Williams

Commonwealth Games

How life changed in a flash for David

ALREADY hailed the fastest schoolboy on the planet, a young David Johnson was on the cusp of athletics stardom when a devastating illness struck.

ESCAPE: EASTER BREAK .. highrise and hinterland of the GOld Coast. Picture: Queensland Tourism

History

Surfers’ 50-level viewing tower plan

IMAGINE having a picture-perfect view of Surfers Paradise and the Nerang River, all from the heights of a 50-level observation tower built right in the heart of the Gold Coast’s party precinct.