Timeline History of Nerang

·        1823 - First recorded landing in the Gold Coast area by John Oxley (explorer & surveyor).

·        1824 - Convicts escaping from Moreton Bay pass through the Gold Coast region.

·     1828 - Coolangatta and Nerang River discovered. Military post established at Point Danger to recapture escapees from Moreton Bay.

·        1839 - Robert Dixon first surveys the region between Brisbane and Tweed Heads.

·        1845 - Edmund Harper and William Duncan (cedar cutters) among the first Europeans to cross the McPherson Range.

·    1852 - Murry Jerry and Dungogie runs (comprising much of the Gold Coast and Hinterland) leased to Alfred Compigne.

·        1853 - Pastoral runs re-leased to William Duckett White.

·        1859 - Queensland established separate from the colony of New South Wales.

·        1860 - Permanent settlement begins to occur due to the Land Act. Manchester Cotton Company begins to establish a cotton plantation on the banks of the Nerang River.

·        1864 - Flooding destroys much of the cotton and other crops in the district.

·        1865 - Martin Lavelle conducts survey of Nerang township, with streets named after important district individuals and features
 

·        1866 - Post office opens in Benowa on Robert Muir’s plantation.

·        1868 - Crown Lands Alienation Act cancels pastoral leases, permanent settlement ensues.

·        1869 - The ‘Walrus’ – Australia’s first licensed floating distillery opens. A paddle steamer was operating on the Nerang, Albert and Logan rivers. Large plantations and estates dominate the land holdings in the Nerang district.

·        1871 - Government proclaimed an Aboriginal Industrial Mission Reserve on the banks of the Nerang River between Gilston and Hinze Dam. Run by the German Lutherans; Cobb and Co coach service to Nerang starts and in 1880 extended on to Southport.

·        1872 - Benjamin Cockerill opens the first hotel – ‘The Nerang.’  Steamers like the ‘Maid of Sker’ operates on the Nerang River bring people and supplies to and from the district.

·        1873 - A second hotel – ‘The Royal Mail’ – opened by Benjamin Cockerill. Sly Grog shop opened on the banks of the Nerang River. In 1885 this would become the Police Barracks and Court House. Steam ships  worked along the Nerang River including the Iona, Iris, Eucalyptus, Lorna Doone, Benowa and Maid of Sker; this trade started in about 1872 more or less ceased with the arrival of rail services in 1889.

[ Photo1 : Paddle Steamer ‘Natone’ – serviced Brisbane-Nerang route c1892 ]

·        1874 - Post Office opened at Nerang.

·        1875 - Nerang State School opens with 47 pupils. Thomas Johnson is the first teacher. Serious flood destroys low-lying buildings in Nerang. Township Telegraph line opened between Brisbane and Murwillumbah via Nerang.

·        1876 - First pile was driven for the earliest bridge over Nerang River

[ Photo 2: Nerang River Bridge c 1908 ]

·        1877 - A butcher shop, police station, baker, blacksmith and two general stores were in Nerang. Cobb and Co Coach started a run three times a week from Brisbane to Nerang coach terminus, with drivers staying at the Royal Mail Hotel.

·     1878   - Railway line to Nerang opened. St Margaret’s Church of England built. First Bridge opened. (Note that the first railway bridge crossed the river near Molendinar, downstream of where the recently built railway bridge is located today).

·        1879 - Nerang Divisional Board formed with focus on road construction and maintenance; St. Margaret’s Church of England built in Nerang Street.

·        1880 - Methodist Church built in Price Street; first medical practice established (Dr.Roemis), but doctor did not remain in Nerang for long!

·      1881 - Census show the population of Nerang is 95, but this did not include the local aboriginal population; Gilston State School opened in June 1881.

·     1884 – Branch of Bank of New South Wales established in Nerang and Commercial Hotel opened; the original hotel building was destroyed by fire in 1930 and rebuilt

[ Photo 3 : The orginal Commercial Hotel in Nerang in late 1800s ]

·      1885 – First agricultural show held in Nerang - “Show for the Southern Queensland and Border Agricultural and Pastoral Association".

·        1887 - Serious flooding damages sugar crops; show hall erected; Queen’s Hotel built in following year near the site of proposed railway station south of the river

·   1889 - Stage One of the South Coast Railways opened, connecting Brisbane with Southport. Attraction of the waterfront sees Southport beginning to develop as the regional centre on the Gold Coast. Railway track to Nerang opened 6 months later in July.

·       1901 - Nerang population recorded as 343 (Note that 100 years later our population is over 55,000 people; see section on demographics of Nerang for more details).

·    1905 - Nerang becoming a centre for dairy farming. Maize, arrowroot and potatoes become important crops. Shops and houses develop along Station Street

 [ Photo 4: Nerang River scene looking south towards Station Street c 1908 ]

·        1914 - Coolangatta is established as a district separate from Nerang Shire. World War I (WWI) sees a decline in the sugar industry due to labour shortages, frosts and flooding, but a rise in the dairy industry. First telephone service installed in Nerang. (Note also that the University of Queensland was founded in 1911 in Brisbane).

·        1917 - Commonwealth Bank of Australia opened for business, although some records indicate that this happened in 1912; the bank remained at its foundation site near the Commercial Hotel until moving to its present location (White/Price Street.) in 1975.

·        1919 – Standard Milk Company establishes a condensed milk factory in Nerang close to the present-day site of Nerang River Plaza south of the river off Station Street; this closed in 1922 but was used then by Coca-Cola until this company relocated to Brisbane.

·    1920s - The post –WWI depression sees a rise in population due to economic relief programs – work teams build and improve roads and other services for food, accommodation and a small income. Cars increase in number in the district and bullock teams disappear; bakery in Station Street burns down and is rebuilt with the Panitz brothers taking over the lease of the Nerang Bakery. By 1925 Shipping along Nerang River ceased as the railway freight and passenger services were developed.

·      1934 - Surfers Paradise and Broadbeach are re-allocated from the local shire of Nerang; later these became part of the City of the Gold Coast local area; Qantas Empire Airways established later to become major national airline (QANTAS) for Australia.

·     1937 to 1939 - National Parks in Springbrook and Mount Tamborine see a rise in tourism; this activity is ongoing today with a new focus now on ecotourism.

·      1940s - World War II saw a decline in the dairy industry due to lack of labour. Extensive mining of heavy minerals (zircon, rutile and ilmenite) along Gold Coast beach ridges to meet demands for war-time manufacture, although earliest sand mining began at Tugun in 1828; mining continued in some area until about 1970 e.g. on South Stradbroke Island. Nerang township at this time was still a very localised settlement astride the Nerang River

[ Photo 5: Nerang from top of Nestles Water Tower ]

·        1950s - Increase in tourism and early development of canals and residential estates across floodplain, although urban development until the 1960s was restricted largely to the coastal zone

·        1961 - Railway line from Nerang to Tweed Heads/Coolangatta closed.

·        1962 – Little Nerang Dam constructed in the Hinterland.

·    1970’s - Nerang expands rapidly as urban development on the Gold Coast extends westward across the Nerang floodplain and into the margins of the hinterland (see later mapping of district). Griffith University established in Brisbane in 1971 and later (1989) establishes a Gold Coast campus. Demolition of Queen’s Hotel to make way for Bartlett’s Barn; later this was called Pelerman’s Motel and recently (2001) renamed the Hinterland Motel and Hotel.

·      1976 - Hinze Dam completed, although there was considerable opposition to this project from the Advancetown and Numinbah Valley rural communities, with some landowners losing their homes and property inundated by the large water supply reservoir (see Hall et al, 1988). Subsequently, the Hinze Dam area has become a popular weekend and holiday time picnic/barbecue venue for Nerang residents and others living on the Gold Coast, with fishing, rowing and sailing allowed on the Advancetown Lake; (strictly speaking, the dam wall is called Hinze Dam and the water body behind this is called Advancetown Lake).

·     1980’s to present day- Nerang continues to grow as a supplier of raw products and industry to the Gold Coast region. The industrial estate in Nerang is one the largest and most diverse industrial areas on the Gold Coast with an extraordinary array of some 850 businesses. The Pacific Motorway was upgraded by 2000, with a new railway station opened in December, 1997  providing ready access to Brisbane for commuters, other local residents and tourists. The recent suburban growth makes Nerang a significant part of the Gold Coast urban fabric.

[ Photo 6: Nerang Railway Station in July, 2001 ]

·        FOUNDING OF NERANG SCHOOLS : The oldest Nerang schools are Nerang State School (1875) and Gilston State School (1881). Nerang High School and William Duncan State School opened in 1986, with Worongary State School opening in 1988; St. Brigid’s Primary School opened in 1996. Hence Nerang has six schools within the town and its immediate hinterland area.