Surfers Paradise Gold Coast: How suburb lost its family-friendly appeal
The story of one family business shines an incredible light on a massive transformation that’s taken place in Surfers Paradise, writes Keith Woods.
Opinion
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It’s a soothing, rhythmical sound, the swish swish of an expert hand running a shaping pad down a surf board.
A constant in the background as I speak to Stuart and Lyn Smith at Stuart’s Surf Design shop in Broadbeach.
Stuart is continuing a proud family tradition. The sound is one that once also filled the air of the surf shop run in Surfers Paradise for 22 years from 1983 by Lyn and her late husband Norm.
In the early 1980s, Surfers was a different place to what we know today. For Lyn, they were happy times.
“It was mostly families,” Lyn says. “There was no nightclubs except for one down the bottom, Bombay Rock.
“It was fun, and an absolutely safe place.”
Stuart recalls not just Grundy’s, but a giant chess set and frequent surf carnivals adding to the family-friendly atmosphere in the area.
“It was pumping,” he says. “The water-slide opened at 9.30 or something, and we’d get to work at 8.30 and there’d be 50 people waiting in line to get in.
“Next to that there was all those chess boards and big chess set up.”
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Today, so many families stay in Surfers hotels but spend most of their time here exploring elsewhere on the Gold Coast. That was not always the case in the past, says Lyn.
“You didn’t have to get in a car and go out to somewhere like Movie World or Sea World,” she says.
“You could bring the kids early in the morning (to Grundy’s or the beach), they could do all their stuff, then have lunch and have a sleep.
“What could be better for a parent?”
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Lyn almost scoffs when I ask if crime was a problem. Her tale of the one major incident to occur is from an age of lost innocence.
“In our signage, we had a big surfboard hung out,” she says. “It was a massive big board. I arrived at work one morning and it was gone.
“The security guard came down and said ‘come up, have a look’ (at the security footage).
“Here’s these two young blokes and they got a milk crate, stood on the crate and unscrewed it.
“Righto we said, it’s gone.
“But then I got a phone call later in the day and this guy says, ‘I’m just ringing up to tell you, we stole your surf board. We’d like to return it tomorrow morning.
“ … And they did.”
For Lyn, the trouble started with the advent of schoolies. It’s been downhill since then.
Would they open a business there now?
“You’d have to be mad,” Stuart retorts.
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Lyn and Stuart were among many to contact this column after the lack of play equipment in Surfers was highlighted last week. The idea that the family-friendly atmosphere that once defined Surfers has been lost struck a chord.
It’s something area councillor Darren Taylor is keen to see fixed.
“It’s something we’re definitely looking at,” he says. “You see it (family-friendly activities) in Cairns, in other areas around Queensland, and other states and countries but we’ve got nothing at all that emulates those kind of fun family areas.”
Cr Taylor says a Surfers revitalisation group he has formed is actively drawing up ideas to address the problem.
Stuart recalls a time when a Flow Rider, like the one in Dreamworld, was proposed for Surfers. It never happened.
“That would have been amazing there,” he says. “They just never followed through.”
Another missed opportunity.
Stuart’s shop is an unexpected treat for Gold Coast history buffs. Beyond public gaze, bordello-pink walls speak of its past as a brothel called the Japanese Bath House.
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It’s a similar story at the Paradise Centre, though not in a good way. Lyn complains that the unit once occupied by her surf shop looks as if it “hasn’t had a lick of paint” since they vacated 15 years ago.
It pains her to pass it, and to see what has become of central Surfers.
“It’s sad, just sad,” she says. “There’s no comparison whatsoever to the way it was.”
It will take skill, vision and perseverance to return Surfers to what it was before. To again make it somewhere families long to visit.
The sort of skill seen by an expert shaper, with the swish swish of the pad, patiently putting the finishing touches to a new board.
NOVEMBER 18: GLARING OMISSION AT HEART OF GLITTER STRIP
IT’S the glaring omission at the heart of the Glitter Strip.
The precinct once again made headlines for all the wrong reasons recently, with a violent brawl breaking out in broad daylight.
It came after a number of recent stabbings of young people that have dragged the area’s image into the sewer.
After all such incidents, there is an inevitable debate about how to improve the area’s reputation and attract families back.
There is one big question that is never addressed, however. Even if the crime problem could be eliminated, why would families want to visit Surfers Paradise? Unlike almost every other beachside suburb, there are close to no public facilities for families with young children.
Southport has the popular Broadwater Parklands, with its rock pools, bicycle track and jumping pillow – though it currently remains deflated for no good reason.
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Broadbeach has the wonderful playground at Pratten Park, beside Kurrawa Surf Club, which was splendidly upgraded by council not so long ago.
Burleigh Heads also has a half-decent playground, while the Pirate Treasure Island playground at Palm Beach draws families from far and wide.
To the north, the council has provided brilliant facilities beside Charis Seafoods in Labrador and at Paradise Point that are always thronged with happy faces.
But at Surfers Paradise, aside from attractions like Timezone and Ripley’s Believe It or Not, which parents have to pay for, what have we got?
The only play equipment provided near the beach in central Surfers is a rather sad little slide set on Northcliffe Tce.
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There is also another very small amount of play equipment about 15 minutes walk from Cavill Ave at Sydney Hamilton Family Park.
It’s ironic when you consider that Destination Gold Coast’s marketing drive is titled “Come and Play”, and so much of our tourist accommodation is centred on Surfers.
It’s an oversight that really should be front and centre of the debate about how to revive the fortunes of Surfers Paradise if we are serious about making the area more family-friendly.
The proposed redevelopment at the Paradise Centre – comprising only of restaurants – looks like a wasted opportunity at a site that once defined the suburb’s family credentials with Grundy’s water park.
But there may be other ways to go about the problem.
The Cairns Esplanade Lagoon stands out as an example of what could be done. Granted, space is a lot tighter, but with a little imagination, it would be good to see something similar tailored to the Surfers Esplanade. Notably, the Cairns version is cheek by jowl with a busy party precinct.
Council should consider something similar. Nothing proposed or built so far comes close.
They’ve done a great job looking after the little ones with playgrounds elsewhere on the Gold Coast, but once again, Surfers has been left behind.
It’s a glaring omission.
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