Coolangatta Beach

Coolangatta is the southernmost suburb of Gold Coast City, Queensland, Australia. It has a population of 4,869 and is named after the schooner Coolangatta which was wrecked there in 1846.

Coolangatta and its immediate neighbouring "Twin Town" Tweed Heads in New South Wales have a shared economy. The Tweed River supports a thriving fishing fleet, and the seafood is a local specialty offered in the restaurants and clubs of the holiday and retirement region on both sides of the state border.

The Gold Coast Airport, formerly known as Coolangatta Airport, is located at Coolangatta, with some of the runway going across the border into New South Wales.

History

Early settlement

Coolangatta was one of the earliest settlements on the Gold Coast. Once again focused on a steep headland at Point Danger the area was occupied by Europeans from at least 1828 by a convict station and red cedar getters soon followed. Selectors followed in the 1860s and a small settlement at Coolangatta was established. In 1883 a township was surveyed.

Border town

As a border town Coolangatta included a customs office, boatshed and government wharf. Extension of the South Coast railway from to Tweed Heads in 1903 guaranteed the success of Coolangatta as a holiday township and it flourished from that time forward. Guesthouses and hotels were erected and a commercial centre soon followed.