If Real Estate were a religion (and some people might claim that indeed it is…), the Gold Coast would be its Holy Land, Surfers Paradise would be its citadel, and Lucy Cole would be its High Priestess.
This morning we had the pleasure to hear this consummate, multiple award-winning professional speaking to our club on the theme of ‘The Evolution of Surfers Paradise’. Lucy opened her presentation with the very early days, when Captain Cook “sailed past” and then John Oxley, who made the first European landing in 1823, met the local indigenous Yugumbeh language people.
Ongoing in the 1800’s, with its Hinterland timber cutters, 1875 when Southport was surveyed, 1899 when the first railway reached our region.
The real Gold Coast (at that time still called ‘South Coast’) evolved from about 1933 when the Surfers Paradise Hotel was built.
The transition to Australia’s high-rise capital commenced at the time when Sir Bruce Small also developed the canal estates, and when in 1971 Coolangatta Airport was opened. Major tourist attractions such as Seaworld, Dreamworld, and Movieworld followed. In 1994, the Gold Coast and Albert Shires amalgamated, resulting in the 6th largest city in Australia, currently with some 750,000 inhabitants, expected to grow to 820,000 by 2035.
Lucy has been given the nickname ‘Penthouse Queen’, a sobriquet she is quite happy to go along with. After all, so she proudly declares, “I sold a lot of the penthouses in Surfers”. That includes that of Q1, at the time the tallest apartment tower in the southern hemisphere.
And what about the eyewatering prices and increases of Real Estate? “Well, it’s a ‘Destination of Choice’” she said, “if you find a property that is less than $1 Million: buy it!”.
You can contact Lucy by email - click on this link. (Photo: Lucy with our meeting chairman for the day, Angus Miller) 
Recently we received a heaped trailer load of kids' bikes, donated to us by one of the schools in the northern Gold Coast, where they had been abandoned over a period of a year or two. Our volunteers lovingly refurbished them to make them ready to be donated to worthy recipients. Some went to St Johns Crisis Centre in Surfers Paradise, and recently, some members from Donations in Kind - Northern Region, picked up a trailer load of for distribution to disadvantaged families in the Northern Rivers region. 'On ya, fellow Rotarians!
