Gold Coast Development: Varsity Lakes and the battle to keep its property exclusive
Death threats were made as a dispute between two Gold Coast suburbs dramatically escalated. Residents of one area insisted they were not “white trash” while the others declared they weren’t snobs.
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THE decision to amalgamate three Gold Coast suburbs into one was never meant to be controversial.
The idea to create Varsity Lakes, from the housing development of the same name and the suburbs of Stephens and Andrews came from the Department of Natural Resources in 2001.
It was believed there were too many suburbs and that the city would be better served by smaller areas being consolidated.
Last week the Bulletin revealed the beginning of the debate and the explosive reaction from residents of the Varsity Lakes estate who feared the move would lower their property values.
“It made me puke,” said long-time resident Seigy Nolan.
They argued that Stephens was a “crime-ridden” cesspool. Locals said the comment was offensive and out of date.
In August 2002, Stephens resident Donna Wilson said: “That attitude just stinks. They are snobs.”
“Stephens is a nice place now. There are young families, successful single people, retirees. It is no longer the ‘white trash’ area people used to say it was.
“There’s now more crime in Burleigh Waters and University Shores than in Stephens.”
University Shores resident Janet Graham said she was not a snob and was only concerned about property values.
“I bought in to Robina, paid Robina prices and I don’t want any name change.,” she said.
“Not once were we notified about this and a letter from our council representative would have been nice.”
The feud escalated, with residents of the Delfin development vowing to go to court to prevent Stephens from taking the name Varsity Lakes.
Varsity Lakes resident Paul Klerk claimed more than 150 Varsity Lakes residents were so adamant they didn’t want to be associated with Stephens they were willing to put up $1000 each for legal fees.
He blamed the media for the scandal.
“We’ve never said we don’t like the people of Stephens. We are not snobs” he said.
“What this is about is protecting our property covenants and values. Stephens does have some nice homes, but there is also a fair percentage of Housing Commission stuff.’’
The Varsity residents opposed to the name change even set up a website attacking Stephens residents.
The suburban dispute escalated rapidly through August 2002 and gained national attention when residents were showered with abuse and police called in to referee some of the neighbourly conflicts.
Burleigh state MP Christine Smith was the target of an e-mail hate campaign by the website’s operators. She was told to “grow up” and mocked her chances at the next election.
Mrs Smith dismissed the criticism of her as “like water off a duck’s back”, but said it was a tragedy that the seemingly trivial matter could generate so much hate.
She compared it to the Berlin Wall.
“This was about aligning boundaries to make it easier for Australia Post and emergency vehicles to find their way around,” she said. “It really is only a technical thing.
“And it has degenerated into a horrible slanging match. It has been very damaging.
“It’s come through quite clearly that this group thinks the people of Stephens aren’t good enough to live in Varsity Lakes and I find that unacceptable. It’s at a point where it is almost like crossing the Berlin Wall.”
The bitter tit-for-tat continued into February 2003 when Natural Resources Minister Stephen Robertson announced that Varsity Lakes would swallow Stephens and Andrews.
Mr Klerk told the Bulletin he was furious with the result and vowed to go to court.
“The people of Stephens might be doing cartwheels but I can assure them that by assuming the Varsity Lakes postcode their home insurance will go up and so, too, will their rates,” he said.
Mrs Smith organised a celebratory party to mark the merger. Residents of up-market Varsity Lakes and University Shores did not attend.
No court case eventuated, though a bitter online war continued through 2003.
Ms Wilson said at the time: “It made us really angry down here that this form of bigotry is continuing because there is crime in every suburb on the Gold Coast,” she said.
“Whoever it is would get more respect if they put a name to their emails. By continuing to send anonymous emails they are making themselves look stupid.”
The war for Varsity Lakes ended with a whimper and the residents opposed to the merger failed in their hopes of seeing Mrs Smith removed from office. She was re-elected with a thumping majority in early 2004.
In the 19 years since, the bitter battle has been largely forgotten, as Varsity Lakes grew dramatically on the back of the 2000s property boom.
Real estate prices did not fall as predicted and several new developments are underway as of 2022.
‘Needles everywhere’ Revealing exclusive Coast suburb’s major problem
A $1bn “hi-tech community” of the future, with top-level property prices and incredible infrastructure: That was the pitch for Varsity Lakes when it was unveiled almost 25 years ago.
Delfin Lend Lease spent more than $5m in 1994 to buy up the land near Robina. Five years later the 300ha would become known as Varsity Lakes.
The suburb took more than a decade to build but it is today one of the Gold Coast’s busiest and home to more than 15,000 people.
Its property goes for a premium too, with a series of new projects, including Homecorp’s Capital Court, under construction.
However, it is a far cry from the contentious debate 20 years ago when a group of residents opposed Varsity Lakes absorbing a neighbouring suburb.
The issue divided the community, between those who supported the new moniker and those who preferred its original name – Stephens.
To understand why, it is important to understand Stephens’ history.
The area came to note nearly 150 years ago when more than 6980 acres of land was bought by former Brisbane mayor Thomas Blacket Stephens.
It was a large uninhabited wetland which Stephens hoped to drain into Little Tallebudgera Creek to create land suitable for dairy farming.
Unfortunately, Stephens became sick with lung disease the following year and never recovered.
He retired in 1875 and died in Brisbane two years later without getting to drain the wetland, which was renamed Stephens Swamp.
It remained largely untouched for the better part of a century until the rapid growth of the Gold Coast.
The area was gazetted in 1981 alongside Robina and Andrews, named for a historic family that owned much of the area around West Burleigh.
Stephens was considered a blue-collar suburb and home to a housing commission estate.
Fast-forward to 2001 and the Varsity Lakes development was well-underway while Robina had expanded into a major commercial and residential precinct.
That year the Department of Natural Resources announced it would consider changing the suburban boundaries to reflect the changing face of the city.
By 2002 it was announced that Stephens and Andrews would be merged and renamed Varsity Lakes after Delfin’s development.
A bitter war of words broke out between residents of Stephens and University Shores, who said the name change would devalue properties.
Stephens residents called them “plain snobs”.
University Shores retiree Eileen Nielan told the Bulletin at the time that residents “could afford to be snobby”.
“We bought into the up-market area so that we could have a nice neighbourhood, not so we could be all bracketed under the same suburb as Stephens and Andrews,” she said.
“It would devalue our homes and demean the area,” added Janet Graham.
Liz Bates said the crime and litter problems in Stephens were two of the main reasons she would not want to be associated with the area.
“They leave their needles in the parks and vandalise property and that’s just not the sort of image we want to be associated with,” she said.
Then-Burleigh MP Christine Smith said any suggestion that Stephens was any less desirable than other suburbs was “incomprehensible”.
The feud escalated, with residents of the Delfin development vowing to go to court to prevent Stephens from taking the name Varsity Lakes.
Varsity Lakes resident Paul Klerk claimed more than 150 Varsity Lakes residents were so adamant they didn’t want to be associated with Stephens they were willing to put up $1000 each for legal fees.
“No way in the world do we want to be lumped with Stephens,” said Mr Klerk.
“I shudder to think what it would do to our prices.”
The Varsity residents opposed to the name change even set up a website attacking Stephens residents.
“It made me puke,” said long-time resident Seigy Nolan.
“If they say the website doesn’t aim to offend Stephens residents, well I’m sorry, but it does.
“We’re not slobs and no-hopers like the website portrays.
“We are not going to criticise the people of Varsity Lakes but they should remember, you don’t judge a book by its cover.”
Even Robina MP Bob Quinn said the Varsity Lakes “silvertails” had a right to be upset.
Next week: The war for Varsity Lakes
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