The Southport Spit (officially known as The Spit) is a spit and neighbourhood within the northern end of Main Beach,

City of Gold Coast The City of Gold Coast is the Local government in Australia, local government area spanning the Gold Coast, Queensland, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, and surrounding areas. With a population of 606,774, it is the second most populous local ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, Australia. It is a permanent sand spit that separates the Southport Broadwater from the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

Geography

Seaworld Drive is the main street connecting the area of The Spit to the rest of Main Beach. Parklands and naturally vegetated sand dunes on the eastern ocean side of the Spit start in Main Beach at Kemp Street and Main Beach Parade and run continuously to the tip of the Spit.

History

There was a township called Moondarewa located on the southern tip of

Stradbroke Island Stradbroke Island, also known as Minjerribah, was a large sand island that formed much of the eastern side of Moreton Bay near Brisbane, Queensland until the late 19th century. Today the island is split into two islands: North Stradbroke Is ...

(now South Stradbroke Island). On 9 February 1881 the

Queensland Government The Queensland Government is the state government of Queensland, Australia, a Parliament, parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Government is formed by the party or coalition that has gained a majority in the Queensland Legislative Assembly, ...

auctioned 156 town lots at Moondarewa which was described as "southern end of Stradbroke Island and opposite Southport" (. The name ''Moondarewa'' is a corruption of the Aboriginal name ''Moonjerrabah'' which was the name for a mosquito. Moondarewa was located in the area near where Seaworld is located today (). The Spit was formed between 1897 and 1898,The Spit History
. City of Gold Coast. Retrieved 4 October 2013. a product of

longshore drift Longshore drift from longshore current is a geological process that consists of the transportation of sediments (clay, silt, pebbles, sand, shingle, shells) along a coast parallel to the shoreline, which is dependent on the angle of incoming w ...

when high seas broke through at Jumpinpin (), a narrow section of land on Stradbroke Island. This made a new ocean passage, the Jumpinpin Channel, which divided Stradbroke Island in two (

North Stradbroke Island North Stradbroke Island (Janday language, Jandai: ''Minjerribah''), colloquially ''Straddie'' or ''North Straddie'', is an island that lies within Moreton Bay in the Australian state of Queensland, southeast of the centre of Brisbane. Original ...

and South Stradbroke Island). The continuous longshore drift it created continued to erode South Stradbroke Island and the township of Moondarewa began to be lost to the sea from the late 1930s during storms as the Broadwater Entrance migrated northwards. During the 1940s the Southport Yacht Club grew and added marina facilities for the increasing number of private boats wanting to moor on the Spits' eastern side of the Broadwater. Since the 1950s and '60s, the local prawning industry used The Spit for their berth. The Spit continued to develop, with tourist attractions opening in the 1960s. It is now home to Sea World theme park, an upmarket shopping restaurant and bar precinct and several resorts. Navigational difficulties caused boating accidents, prompting the planning and design of the Gold Coast Seaway, built from 1984 to 1986. The design relied on data from the Beach Protection Authority to prevent it becoming a

baymouth bar In Russian geomorphology, a peresyp (), also known as a bay-mouth bar is a narrow sandbar that rises above the water level (like a spit (landform), spit) and separates a liman (landform), liman or a lagoon from the sea. Unlike tombolo bars, a ''p ...

connecting to South Stradbroke Island. Construction of the project had six main phases: * retaining walls using approximately one million tonnes of imported rock *

dredging Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing d ...

4.5 million cubic metres sand * closure of the old entrance * sand bypassing system *

revegetation Revegetation is the process of replanting and rebuilding the soil of disturbed land. This may be a natural process produced by plant colonization and succession, manmade rewilding projects, accelerated process designed to repair damage to a la ...

* sewage outfall. In 2018, the Spit Master Plan was announced to revitalise the area for community use. At at October 2024, the work is still in progress.

Attractions

The Southport Spit is home to Sea World (), Sea World Resort, the Sheraton Mirage Resort and Spa, as well as Palazzo Versace (). Sea World expanded after purchasing a rival attraction, Marineland, in 1976. Marineland was situated on the site of the current Sheraton resort. On the end of The Spit is the Gold Coast Sand Pumping Jetty (), a popular destination for fishermen and part of the Gold Coast Seaway's Sand Bypassing System. The Gold Coast Oceanway and the Federation Walk () provide opportunities for

pedestrians A pedestrian is a person traveling on foot, by wheelchair or with other mobility aids. Streets and roads often have a designated footpath for pedestrian traffic, called the ''sidewalk'' in North American English, the ''pavement'' in British Eng ...

and cyclists to explore the Spit. The Federation Walk Coastal Reserve () is a reserve comprising the eastern part of The Spit. There are a number of parks: * Doug Jennings Park is at the northern end () * Philip Park, east of Sea World (), popular for wedding photographs * Hollindale Park at the southern end has picnic facilities () Doug Jennings Park covers the whole north end of The Spit, with views to Wave Break Island to the east and South Stradbroke Island to the north. It is a popular family park, suitable for fishing, diving, surfing, boating and swimming.

References

External links

* {{Cite web, last=, first=, date=1970, title=The Spit, url=https://gisservices.information.qld.gov.au/arcgis/rest/directories/historicalscans/cad_scans/cad-map-town-the-spit-1970.jpg, url-status=live, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200722220042/https://gisservices.information.qld.gov.au/arcgis/rest/directories/historicalscans/cad_scans/cad-map-town-the-spit-1970.jpg, archive-date=22 July 2020, website=, publisher=

, type=Map
Gold Coast City Council - Federation WalkSave Our Spit website
Geography of Gold Coast, Queensland Coastline of Queensland Main Beach, Queensland Marinas in Australia Southport, Queensland

Geography

History

Attractions

See also

References

External links