Sundale: Everything you need to know about Southport shopping centre which was open 1969-1990
Sundale was the Gold Coast’s first shopping centre and a major landmark for more than two decades. This is the inside story of its short but incredible life. SEE THE PICTURES
History
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Few names elicit greater smiles on the Gold Coast than Sundale.
Newer residents of the city will know it as the unofficial name of the bridge between Southport and Main Beach while others will recognise its attachment to Meriton’s nearby supertower.
But both took their name from the famous shopping centre which opened 55 years ago this week with great fanfare.
On March 26, 1969 Deputy Premier Gordon Chalk, Gold Coast Mayor Sir Bruce Small and Woolworths managing director Sir Theo Kelly gathered to officially open the shopping mecca.
It was a day four years in the making.
Woolworths announced in 1965 it would build a store on Southport’s Brighton Parade, a project approved by the Gold Coast City Council in November that year.
Construction began in 1967 and was completed in December 1968.
After four months of fitting out, the famed complex opened its doors – just the second shopping centre built in the entire state.
Standing three storeys tall, it cost $7.5 million and housed a Woolworths, Queensland’s first Big W, a cinema, restaurant, a self-service cafeteria and 45 specialty shops.
The centrepiece of the opening was the sealing of a time capsule which was not to be opened until March 26, 2000.
Placed in a location behind the main circular dais in the centre’s garden court plaza, the capsule contained copies of speeches made by Mr Chalk, Sir Theo, Sir Bruce and Albert Shire boss Cr Hugh Muntz. It also included a 4GG radio commentary tape, photos of Sundale under construction, copies of the Gold Coast Bulletin from March 26, 1969 and school projects from local children.
Mystery surrounded the fate of the capsule after Sundale’s closure but it was recovered in the 1990s and some of its items were displayed to the public in 2017.
At the opening, Sir Theo was asked “How does one express confidence in a city as scintillating and as challenging as the Gold Coast?”
He responded: “The question required more than something new, more than something unique.
“It requires the daring adventurous spirit of the Gold Coast itself – that is how the Sundale concept began.”
The centre’s opening created both excitement and fear from Southport business operators who feared Sundale would bring about a six-day trading week.
Proposals for a six-day shopping week drew opposition from traders in Nerang and Scarborough streets.
At the time Southport and Sundale observed a five-and-a-half day shopping week, closing on Saturday at noon.
The rest of the coastal strip had six-day weeks.
Sundale was a major hub of business through the 1970s and initially withstood strong competition from the 1977 opening of Pacific Fair.
By the 1980s the centre was still doing well, with its cinema a popular theatre.
However, the opening of Australia Fair in 1990 proved to be the end, with both the cinema and several major retailers exiting Sundale for the new complex. Sundale closed its doors that year and sat empty.
Some small retail shops including a fruit and vegetable outlet on the outskirts of the decaying centre continued to trade into the mid-late 1990s.
Several attempts to revive it, including the proposed Motor World theme park and a convention centre both failed to eventuate.
The old Sundale building was finally torn down in 2003 to make way for the high-rise towers which exist today.
The Meriton tower now bears the name Sundale.
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