The Gold Coast , also known by its initials, GC , is a coastal city and region in the state of Queensland , Australia, located approximately 66 kilometres 41 mi south-southeast of the centre of the state capital , Brisbane.
It is Queensland's second-largest city after Brisbane, as well as Australia's sixth-largest city and the most populous non-capital city. The demonym of a Gold Coast resident is Gold Coaster. The area that became the Gold Coast was originally inhabited by the indigenous Yugambeh people. The city grew from a collection of small townships, the earliest being Nerang in From the s onwards, tourism led to significant economic growth in the region, and by the Gold Coast was declared a city, with its first skyscraper being built in The Gold Coast boomed from the s onwards with skyscraper construction.
The Gold Coast is a major tourist destination with a sunny, subtropical climate and has become widely known for its surfing beaches such as Surfers Paradise , high-rise dominated skyline, theme parks , nightlife , and rainforest hinterland. The Gold Coast is the ancestral home of a number of Indigenous clans of the Yugambeh people, [ 15 ] including the Kombumerri , [ 16 ] Mununjali , [ 17 ] and Wangerriburra clans.
Europeans arrived in when explorer John Oxley explored the Tweed River. A number of small townships developed along the coast and in the hinterland. The western suburb of Nerang was surveyed and established as a base for the industry and by a town reserve had been set aside. Post-World War One Era saw the rise of the "seaside shack". The seaside shack provided the opportunity for the coastal "getaway" with modest investment. From to , they popped up all along the South Coast.
Seaside shacks were exceedingly cheap and were an early use of the concept of recycling. Many were built of disused or second grade timber, all kinds of materials were used for the holiday seaside shack β including fibro cement, metal containers, and left-over farm sheds; even disused trams were sold off as seaside shacks.
