THERE’S no city like the Gold Coast and there’s no newspaper like the Gold Coast Bulletin. Here’s the second part of our countdown of 130 oh-so-Gold Coast news moments.
106: A DREAM COME TRUE
1981-PRESENT DAY
It may seem a long way to go from lawnmowers to theme parks, but for businessman John Longhurst it was a natural step. In 1974, after selling out of his successful lawnmower construction business, Mr Longhurst bought a block of land at Coomera. In 1981 he opened Dreamworld.
105: BIG STARS CAME OUT
1991
On June 2, 1991, the Queensland sunshine provided the light, television crews rolled their cameras, and movie stars Clint Eastwood, Kurt Russell, Goldie Hawn, Mel Gibson and Yahoo Serious were the centre of the action for the opening of Movie World.
Women swooned and clicked cameras as heart-throb Aussie actor turned Hollywood box office hit Mel Gibson arrived and there were plenty of female wolf whistles for Kurt Russell. Since it opened Movie World has been used for a number of major productions, including Peter Pan and Scooby Doo and most recently a chapter of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.
104: FAILED BID PUT CONVENTION CENTRE ON THE MAP
1990
It is one of the Coast’s iconic buildings, but it took a failed Expo bid to put the Gold Coast Convention Centre on the map.
In 1999 Premier Peter Beattie and Expo bid chairman Sir Llew Edwards were in a freezing Paris, glumly facing the fact their bid would fail.
They had jumped on a plane to salvage the Gold Coast’s 2002 World Expo bid after the original host, the Philippines, had withdrawn.
The night before meeting the Expo committee, the Queensland entourage assembled at the Paris Hilton for dinner joined by the-then Gold Coast Bulletin political reporter Sue Lappeman.
The Premier was resigned to losing the Expo but had told here he was ‘absolutely determined’ to deliver a convention centre to the Gold Coast.
“I think it’s ridiculous that the state’s second largest city hasn’t got a convention centre,” thundered Mr Beattie between mouthfuls of fresh smoked salmon.
The next day Mr Beattie, on a Paris street corner near the Arc de Triomphe, announced there would be no Expo at Coomera in 2002 but there would be a convention centre. The Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre opened in June 2005.
103: MFS FALLS FROM GREAT HEIGHT ...
2000s
IT was the Gold Coast’s corporate success story.
Solicitors Michael King and Phil Adams had built MFS from a small start-up into one of Queensland’s biggest companies.
Worth $4 billion at its peak, MFS operated in a similar manner to money managers Babcock and Brown and Macquarie. Using shareholders and loan funds, it acquired assets which it than managed for a return. In time, assets were spun off into other listed companies that MFS retained a share in and charged a fee to manage.
On January 10, 2008 it fell apart and on January 18, while Mr King was locked into a gruelling teleconference trying to drum up $550 million to save the company, MFS shares went into a death spiral, falling from $3.18 to a close of 99c. It was the end of MFS and King and Adams were left with personal debts of $127 million.
102: ‘BLACK SHADOW’ NIGHTMARE FOR SURFER
2009
ON January 11, 2009, Jonothon Beard, 31, was surfing with four mates at Dreamtime beach in northern NSW about 9am when a `black shadow’ in the water ripped into his leg and left a hole in his board.
Overcome with fear, the Brisbane machine operator managed to somehow paddle 80m to shore where friends used two rashies and a leg rope as a tourniquet for the deep wound as they waited for help.
After reaching safety, he was flown from the beach to Gold Coast Hospital where he underwent several hours of surgery.
101: WHEN OL’ BLUE EYES DID THE WHITE SHOE SHUFFLE
1988
It was the launch to beat all launches. Developer and the man many saw as chairman of the coast’s white shoe brigade, Mike Gore, had battled for years to build his dream resort at Sanctuary Cove.
The former used car salesman, RAAF pilot, boatbuilder and importer of luxury yachts had first set eyes on Hope Island in the early 1980s and was immediately struck with a vision of a future paradise. His impossible dream began to take shape after State Parliament passed the 78-page Sanctuary Cove Resort Act in 1985.
In January, 1988 Sanctuary Cove was spectacularly opened, with acts including Whitney Houston and Australian musicians Peter Allen, Ricky May, Mental as Anything, James Morrison and Kate Cebrano performing.
But the highlight was Frank Sinatra performing a concert watched by 50,000 live and many more on TV.
100: LIFESAVERS FIRST VICTIMS OF SHARK ATTACK
1937
MORE than 70 years ago two young lifesavers became our city’s first official shark fatalities.
In 1937, Norman Girvan, 18, and fellow clubmate Jack Brinkley, 25, had been swimming at Kirra beach when they were attacked.
Mr Brinkley tried to save Mr Girvan, who was attacked first, but the pair died despite the rescue efforts of clubmate Joe Doniger.
Mr Doniger received a First Grade Silver Meritorious Award, surf lifesaving’s highest honour, and a gold medal.
After several shark attacks on Queensland beaches, the government commissioned an investigation into ways to prevent them.
The Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries instigated the shark control program in the 1960s, which involved large mesh fishing nets or drumlins.
99: CAPTAIN OVERBOARD IN CALAMITOUS CHRISTMAS CANAL CRUISE ...
2002
For colourful Gold Coast real estate man Max Christmas it was meant to be a festive Christmas cruise. In December 2002 councillor and realtor Christmas invited 60 people to join him on a cruise of the Broadwater.
But the group found themselves castaways after the captain jumped overboard.
The skipper, Darrell Patrick Brady, 37, abandoned ship towards the end of the cruise after Cr Christmas demanded he take a particular canal route.
Moments before jumping overboard, the skipper called a mayday over the charter boat’s maritime radio.
He said: “I’ve had enough of this treatment. I can’t put up with it. I’m jumping ship.” A ‘deckie’ was able to bring the vessel into the Marriott Hotel marina.
98: WILD SIDE PAYS PRICE
1954
To businessmen it was development, to some animals it was a death sentence.
Natureland Zoo was one of Coolangatta’s tourist attractions. It was established by Victorian naturalist Bill Maughan, who came to the coast in 1954.
The 7ha zoo at Binya Avenue, though small, housed exotic animals such as jaguars, lions, tigers, cape hunting dogs and monkeys as well as native fauna.
But population pressure proved too much for the zoo, and in 1986 the site was sold for $1 million to make way for one of Coolangatta’s first major unit developments.
97: CHAIRWOMAN OF THE BOARD
1960s-PRESENT
AUSTRALIA’S answer to surfing novel character Gidget hails from Kingscliff.
Phyllis O’Donell carved a place in surfing history in the 1960s and pioneered female surfing in Queensland and Australia. She learned to surf using her mother’s ironing board and at age 23, O’Donell became the first women’s world champion in 1964.
Not surprisingly, she was one of the first to be inducted into the Australian Surfing Hall of Fame in 1996.
96: STREET RACE A HUGE PARTY FOR FANS
1991-2008
In 1991 the Gold Coast scored its own international racing event and things would never be the same.
The US IndyCar series, with its pizzazz and PR-friendly drivers, was tailor-made for the Coast.
More than 3000,000 fans would pack the Main Beach race precinct.
On race day, trackside units were where you could let your hair down with good food, plenty to drink and the chance to see girls leaving little to the imagination.
The inaugural race was won by John Andretti, a member of the famous American racing family.
Hollywood stars also became a staple of the event; in 1999 Hollywood glamour Ashley Judd was trackside to cheer boyfriend, and later husband, Dario Franchitti to victory.
The Indycars raced on the Coast for the last time in 2008.
95: V8 SUPERCARS SAVE THE DAY
2008
It seemed a ready-made solution. When Tony George and his Indycars waved goodbye to the Gold Coast in 2008 the State Government needed an international race.
The A1 GP seemed the perfect solution. An added bonus was that the Australian A1 gp team was connected to former Formula One world champion and Gold Coaster Alan Jones.
A contract was signed for the series to become top drawcard at the renamed SuperGP.
But in September, just a month out from the event, the Gold Coast Bulletin revealed a storage company was holding A1 GP’s cars to cover unpaid bills and had no intention of releasing them.
Finally on October 17, just five days before the race, the A1 GP advised it would not make the Gold Coast event.
Plan B with the V8 Supercars was immediately activated and a new era for the Coast’s big race had dawned.
94: OUR FIRST SURFING CLUB
1962
IN the summer of 1962 a handful of local boardriders with nine-foot hardwood planks under their arms met at the girls’ toilets of the Kirra Surf Life Saving Club to have a chat.
This chat was actually the founding meeting of the Kirra Surfriders, Queensland’s first surfing club.
It’s boardriders include surfing legends Peter Drouyn, Paul Neilsen, Peter Townend and Wayne Bartholomew.
93: BURNOUTS IN PARADISE
1966
Before Indy and the SuperGP there was the Surfers Paradise International Raceway. In its day it was considered so good that it ghosted the wheels of sir Jack Brabham in 1966.
The racetrack — which today is the site of the Emerald Lakes housing estate — was built in 1964 by local developer Keith Williams on his farm on the Nerang River. In 1987, the track closed.
92: THE PLAYROOM WAS TOPS
1970-1999
LIVE music venue The Playroom, which hosted some of the biggest Australian acts in its day, was demolished on State Government orders amid protests in March 1999, to make way for a carpark.
The Playroom was kicked off by Beryl Carnell and former husband Claude Carnell. The couple started up Peter’s Partyland at Tallebudgera, four years later it became The Playroom.
The Playroom was at the heart of Australia’s rock scene from 1970 to 1987 and drew the best and most promising performers. Everyone from INXS to Johnny O’Keefe, John Farnham, Normie Rowe, Billy Thorpe, Cold Chisel, and Midnight Oil came.
91: BLOC IN CITY HALL
2004
The day before the 2004 Gold Coast City Council election, Gold Coast Bulletin journalist Alice Jones dropped a bombshell.
For weeks she had been reporting on suspicions that despite presenting as independent candidates, a group of councillors and candidates had accepted money from a fund created by developers keen to see a development-friendly council.
After an admission from Coast developers Brian Ray and Soheil Abedian that they and other businessmen had contributed to a trust fund to support the campaigns of the so-called ‘Bloc’ candidates, the councillors came clean.
The now deceased Sue Robbins named herself, David Power, Ted Shepherd and Bob La Castra as the main players in the election plot to take over the Gold Coast City Council.
The stories resulted in a Walkley Award for Jones. Queensland’s Crime and Misconduct Commission launched an inquiry that resulted in charges, later dropped and beaten in Court, against councillors David Power and Grant Pforr.
90: PIRIE SHOCKS WORLD
1949
THERE are few bigger names in Australian sport than that of sprinter Shirley Strickland.
But back in 1949, Daphne Pirie put Strickland in her place.
Strickland, a winner of seven Olympic medals, had just returned from a successful 1948 London Olympics, and headed to Brisbane for an exhibition race.
It was there that Pirie, 18, shocked the athletics world, defeating Strickland.
The Coast’s Pirie was one of the best athletes never to represent Australia at Olympic level, in athletics and hockey.
89: SMOOTH WATERS
1986
The Gold Coast Seaway is the main navigation entrance from the Pacific Ocean into the Broadwater and is one of Australia’s most significant coastal engineering projects.
Until it was built in 1986, the Southport Bar was a very dangerous entrance for recreational and commercial boats.
88: TITANS GET THEIR MAN
HE may be Mount Isa’s favourite son but Titans captain Scott Prince now calls the Gold Coast home. The Titans had to fight to get the talented half-back to sign on the dotted line.
After Prince captained the Wests Tigers to an NRL premiership, the Titans found themselves in a bidding war.
It was the chance to create something special that drew him to the Coast. Prince played 124 games for the titans from 2007-12.
87: COUNCILLORS SACKED
1978
Back in 1978, the Gold Coast City council was led by colourful, enigmatic businessman Sir Bruce Small. It was a council driven by fiery disputes, backstabbing and dodgy development approvals for years. Finally in 1978 Local Government Minister Russ Hinze had enough, and sacked the council.
86: ANGRY ALDERMEN
1949
In 1949 the first meeting of the South Coast Council, the result of the amalgamation of the Southport and Coolangatta councils, dissolved into name calling.
At the heart of the matter was the aldermen’s reluctance to hand more power to Mayor Len Peak. By a vote of nine to two the council appointed Ald. W J Low chairman of the finance committee, a move Ald. Peak took as a personal slight.
85: FUTURE IN SAFE HANDS
1909
IT was February 21, 1909, when four young women and a man headed to Greenmount on a riverboat from Murwillumbah.
At 12.30pm, Mary Smith, Edith Hoskins, Ethel King and Jenny King went for a dip but became stranded. Their male friend attempted to rescue them, but ended up in trouble himself.
Meanwhile, a group of local men interested in lifesaving had been doing drills throughout the morning.
They saw the swimmers, rushed into the water and managed to bring all five to safety.
The rescue gave rise to Queensland’s first surf club.
84: LOVE LETTERS SHOCK CITY AND ASTOUND THE PREMIER
2005
In the end, claimed Greg Young, it was all former premier Rob Borbidge’s fault.
In 2005 the Gold Coast City Council’s former economics and major projects director was sailing along, a 10-year veteran of the council.
Then it was revealed Mr Young had penned letters to at least three women, including a council employee and a journalist, suggesting how wonderful it would be if they had sex with him.
Mr Young claimed his letters, which asked women to make love to him, did not constitute sexual harassment in ‘the legal sense’, but admitted they were ‘wrong and inappropriate’. After a short debate he was sacked.
83: COSTLY DISMISSAL
2005-07
The sacking of Greg Young came with its own cost. After the letters were brought to light by Cr Susie Douglas in 2005, the council decided enough was enough and legal action had to be taken. As a consequence Cr Douglas was charged with leaking confidential information.
In May 2007 Southport magistrate Michael O’Driscoll fined Cr Douglas $1500.
She also had to pay more than $8000 in court costs as well as $140,000 of her own legal fees.
No conviction was recorded.
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