Nerang, Gold Coast, Australia Media Man Australia

Nerang

1. The site of the present township was called ‘Birribi’ after spirals of dead bark hanging from eucalypts (Hanlon, W.E 1935, John Oxley Journal 2/80).

2. The site of the present township was called ‘Eejung’ meaning wet grassy flats (Gresty, J.A 1947, The Numinbah Valley, Its Geography History and Aboriginal associations. John Oxley Journal 2/80)

3. After the Nerang River ‘neerang’ meaning ‘little’ or ‘shovel nosed shark’

All the early writers suggest that the river was named by Europeans after the local dialect word ‘ neerang’ meaning either ‘ little’ or ‘shovel-nosed shark’ (Meston, Archibald 1905, John Oxley Journal 2/80).

To the local Aborigines the river was referred to as ‘Mogumbin’ or ‘Been-goor-abee’ (Meston Archibald 1923, John Oxley Journal 2/80).

The Tweed tribes called the river ‘Talgai’ (Meston, Archibald 1898, John Oxley Journal 2/80)

Cotton & Sugar Plantations: The story of the Nerang Township began with the development of cotton and sugar plantations on the Nerang River at Carrara, Bundall, and Benowa. In 1865, after completing survey work at Benowa Plantation, Government Surveyor, Martin Lavelle, selected a site for a township on a slope overlooking the Nerang River.

Street Names: He named the first surveyed streets after planters such as Edmund Price or the pastoralist William Duckett White. By 1876, Nerang Township was a small postal township, with a school and hotel. The town served the needs of a rural population of farmers and timber workers and was a rail head for their produce and supplies after the town was linked to the railway in 1889.

Nerang Community: In the early years, Nerang was an administrative centre for the region, with a courthouse, police station, and meeting place for local councillors. Gradually, Southport assumed many of these roles and Nerang survived quietly as a picturesque centre of the Hinterland. In the 1970s and 1980s, the Gold Coast’s population grew rapidly and many people made their homes in the new estates which had expanded into the hinterland. Considerable commercial, service and light industrial development has grown around the town of Nerang. The former sleepy hamlet is once again a centre for a number of significant communities. (Credit: Gold Coast City Council).

The Nerang River

The Nerang River is a river within Gold Coast City in south-eastern Queensland. It starts in the Lamington Plateau on the New South Wales border and heads north, then east where it flows into the Gold Coast Broadwater at Southport on the Gold Coast.

Name

The river was initially named the River Barrow by government surveyor Robert Dixon when he charted the Gold Coast in 1840, after Sir John Barrow, Secretary of the Admiralty.[1] The surveyor general Thomas Mitchell later changed many places to Aboriginal names, and this included giving the Nerang River its present name. Neerang is a Yugambeh word meaning "little shark" or "shovel-nosed shark". But the local aboriginal people in fact called the river Mogumbin or Been-goor-abee. And the peoples of the Tweed called it Talgai.

Dams

On the Nerang river is the Hinze Dam, creating Advancetown Lake, the Gold Coast's main water supply. An older dam, higher up in the catchment and now called the Little Nerang Dam was an earlier water supply for the Gold Coast, Queensland. The dams are managed by Gold Coast Water

Surfers Riverwalk

The Gold Coast City Council is considering investing into the quality and capacity of the Surfers Riverwalk. The route would connect the Gold Coast Highway Bridge crossing of the Nerang River at Main Beach to Pacific Fair Shopping Centre at Broadbeach, Queensland. The route includes

* The western facing beaches of Main Beach
* The anabranch foreshores of McIntosh Island.
* Jaraparilla Cove
* The Marriott Hotel boardwalk
* Budds Beach
* Surfers Central Riverwalk[2] from Budds Beach to Lionel Perry Park
* The Paradise Island anabranch
* Cannes Avenue Reach of the Nerang River
* Cascade Gardens foreshores of Little Tallebudgera Creek
* Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre boardwalk
* Jupiters Casino Island foreshores
* Pacific Fair Shopping Centre

Boatramps

Nerang River Boatramps open to the public include:

* Waterways Drive Main Beach
* Budds Beach
* Evandale (Commercial Use Only)
* Isle of Capri
* TE Peters Drive Broadbeach Waters (Convention Centre)
* Carrara Road Carrara
* Nerang River Parklands Nerang (Credit: Wikipedia).

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