Cavill Avenue at Surfers Paradise, Queensland looking east

Cavill Avenue is a

street A street is a public thoroughfare in a built environment. It is a public parcel of land adjoining buildings in an urban context, on which people may freely assemble, interact, and move about. A street can be as simple as a level patch of dirt, ...

and a

pedestrian mall Pedestrian zones (also known as auto-free zones and car-free zones, as pedestrian precincts in British English, and as pedestrian malls in the United States and Australia) are areas of a city or town reserved for pedestrian-only use and in whi ...

in Surfers Paradise,

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 is in the heart of the Surfers Paradise shopping and entertainment district. It was named in honour of the man credited as the founder of Surfers Paradise,

James Cavill James Freeman Cavill (c.1862 –1952 in Surfers Paradise, Queensland) a Brisbane hotelier, was one of the pioneers of the Gold Coast, Australia. Early life Information about his early life is sketchy as he told a number of conflicting stories, ...

, known as Jim Cavill.

History

In 1887, German immigrant Johann Meyer operated a ferry across the

Nerang River The Nerang River is a perennial river located in South East Queensland, Australia. Its catchment lies within the Gold Coast local government area and covers an area of . The river is approximately in length. Course and features The Nerang Rive ...

. From

Southport Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England. Southport lies on the Irish ...

, travellers would follow the Meyer's Ferry Road (now

Ferry Road Ferry Road is one of the major roads of Edinburgh, Scotland, deriving its name from being the road from Queensferry to Leith. It runs from the eastern end of Davidson's Mains village in the west, to Leith in the east, passing through Drylaw, ...

) to a spit of land that created a narrow point in the river () (the narrow spit is no longer in existence due to changes in the river and the creation of

Chevron Island The Chevron Island is an urban island that lies in the Nerang River and is a neighbourhood within the suburb of Surfers Paradise in the City of Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. History Chevron Island is a natural island previously known a ...

but is in the vicinity of the

Gold Coast Arts Centre Home of the Arts (HOTA), opened as the Keith Hunt Community Entertainment and Arts Centre in 1986 and subsequently renamed The Arts Centre Gold Coast (TAC) and Gold Coast Arts Centre, is a cultural precinct situated in Surfers Paradise, City of ...

). From that point, Meyer's ferry would take the travellers across the river to Meyer's Ferry Road at Elston (as Surfers Paradise was then known) along which the travellers would walk to the surf beach. Businesses established along Meyer's Ferry Road at Elston which created the main street of Surfers Paradise now known as Cavill Avenue. Although the surf beaches of Elston were a popular destination, the lack of road access limited the extent of residential and commercial development. It was not until 1925, when the Jubilee Bridge was built across the Nerang River between Southport and

Main Beach Main Beach (originally Southport East) is a coastal town and suburb in the City of Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. In the , the suburb of Main Beach had a population of 3,883 people. Geography Historically, the Main Beach area was a narrow ...

, that Surfers Paradise was opened up for tourism and associated development. During the same period Jim Cavill built the Surfers Paradise Hotel on the south eastern corner of Ferry Road and the South Coast Road. In 1945, in response to a letter from Mr. E Shersby to name streets after local pioneers, the Southport Town Council decided to rename the section of Ferry Road east of the Nerang River, and in front of the Surfers Paradise Hotel, in honour of Jim Cavill. It was decided to name the section of Ferry Road west of the Nerang River after Johann Meyer.

Geography

Between the Surfers Paradise Beach and Orchid Avenue, Cavill Avenue is a

. The

Centro Surfers Paradise Paradise Centre is a shopping centre located in Surfers Paradise, Queensland on the Gold Coast. It is located in the tourist district on Cavill Avenue and has stores selling a variety of goods. History Paradise Centre opened in December 1981, ...

is a major shopping centre on pedestrian section of Cavill Avenue. The

Circle on Cavill Circle on Cavill is a $551 million commercial development with two residential towers built by the Sunland Group and positioned in a key city block in the heart of the Surfers Paradise CBD, neighbouring with Towers of Chevron Renaissance sho ...

is the second shopping center on the street, located at the western end of the road, near the

Gold Coast Highway Gold Coast Highway links the coastal suburbs of the Gold Coast in south eastern Queensland such as Miami, Mermaid Beach, Tugun, Bilinga to the Tweed Heads suburb of Tweed Heads West in New South Wales. At in length, the highway runs jus ...

. Located near the intersection of Surfers Paradise Boulevard and Cavill Avenue is the G:link

Cavill Avenue Station There are nineteen stations in the G:link, a light rail system serving the Gold Coast, Queensland, Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia. The system consists of a single line that opened with sixteen initial stations on 20 July 2014, with anoth ...

. The G:link is the Gold Coast's new light rail system connecting

Broadbeach Broadbeach is a suburb in the City of Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. In the , Broadbeach had a population of 5,514 people. Geography Development in the area today mostly incorporates low rise structures, consisting of single bedroom house ...

with

Helensvale Helensvale is a suburb of the City of Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia. In the , Helensvale had a population of 16,862 people. Geography Helensvale is bounded by the Pacific Motorway to the west, by the Coomera River to the north, by S ...

via Surfers Paradise,

Gold Coast University Hospital Gold Coast University Hospital (abbreviated GCUH or GCH, and sometimes Gold Coast Uni Hospital) is a major health facility offering tertiary level health care for the Gold Coast, Australia, completed in September 2013. The hospital was built on ...

and Parkwood The

Soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

is a 243 m tall

skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Modern sources currently define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition. Skyscrapers are very tall high-ris ...

and the second tallest skyscraper on the Gold Coast behind Q1. The building is situated on the Esplanade just to the north of Cavill Avenue. At the river end of the street are the two towers of

Events

The mall is the centre of the annual Schoolies celebrations. According to crime statistics the mall is an alcohol fueled violence hotspot.

References

{{coord, -28.00199, 153.42976, display=title History of Gold Coast, Queensland Roads on the Gold Coast, Queensland Tourism on the Gold Coast, Queensland Surfers Paradise, Queensland Entertainment districts in Australia Red-light districts in Australia Tourist attractions on the Gold Coast, Queensland

History

Geography

Events

See also

References