The Gold Coast Parklands was a complex serving the

greyhound racing Greyhound racing is an organized, competitive sport in which greyhounds are raced around a track. There are two forms of greyhound racing, track racing (normally around an oval track) and coursing; the latter is now banned in most countries. Tra ...

and harness racing industries on the

Gold Coast, Queensland The Gold Coast is a coastal city in the state of Queensland, Australia, approximately south-southeast of the centre of the state capital Brisbane. With a population over 600,000, the Gold Coast is the sixth-largest city in Australia, the nati ...

, Australia. It opened on 7 December 1988 on the corner of Smith Street and Parklands Drive, Southport on the Gold Coast, Queensland at a cost of nine million dollars.

History

Plans to build the complex began in 1983 when the Racing Minister for Queensland, Mr Russell Hinze, visited the Gold Coast. He was reportedly disappointed by trotting and grey hound racing facilities a Owen Park, Southport. The decision was made to provide improved facilities at another location and State Government land and was selected opposite

Griffith University Griffith University is a public research university in South East Queensland on the east coast of Australia. Formally founded in 1971, Griffith opened its doors in 1975, introducing Australia's first degrees in environmental science and Asian s ...

. The complex was managed by the Parklands Trust and was the home for a number of organisations including the Gold Coast Show Society, Gold Coast Greyhound Racing the Parklands Indoor Sports Centre and the Gold Coast Harness Racing Club. Between 1993 and 2013 it was also the venue for the annual

Big Day Out The Big Day Out (BDO) was an annual music festival that was held in five Australian cities: Sydney, Melbourne, Gold Coast, Adelaide, and Perth, as well as Auckland, New Zealand. The festival was held during summer, typically in January of eac ...

concert. In 2007, The State Government announced plans to build a new hospital adjacent to the complex. This resulted in the departure of Gold Coast Greyhound Racing from Parklands in 2009. On 1 February 2013 the remaining part of the site was formally designated as the athletes' village for the

2018 Commonwealth Games The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that were held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, bet ...

and was declared a Priority Development Area (PDA) by the

Government of Queensland The Queensland Government is the democratic administrative authority of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland. The Government of Queensland, a parliamentary system, parliamentary constitutional monarchy was form ...

. In August 2013 a call for stories, memories and photographs from the community to commemorate the history of Parklands was launched. These stories and ephemera relating to the complex were donated to the City of Gold Coast Local Studies Library. Demolition of the buildings on the site commenced in late 2013 and in December 2013

Grocon Grocon is an Australian privately owned development, construction and funds management company. Founded in Melbourne in 1948, it expanded to operate in India and the Middle East. In November 2020, parts of the company were placed in voluntary a ...

won the contract to build the village. Grocon worked with consulting companies Cardno and Lat27 to create the new development.

References

Bibliography

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External links

Harness Racing Gold Coast

Gold Coast Show

Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games

Gold Coast Big Day Out

Grocon
{{coord missing, Queensland Defunct sports venues in Australia Demolished buildings and structures in Queensland Defunct greyhound racing venues in Australia Harness racing in Australia Harness racing venues in Australia Sports venues completed in 1988 Sports venues demolished in 2013 Sports venues on the Gold Coast, Queensland 1988 establishments in Australia Demolished sports venues

History

See also

References

Bibliography

External links