Stephens is a former suburb of the
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
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
.
History
Stephens was named after the Stephens Swamp, an area of wetlands between
Reedy Creek and
Burleigh Heads. The swamp, in turn, was named after
Thomas Blacket Stephens
Thomas Blacket Stephens (5 January 1819 – 26 August 1877) was a wealthy Brisbane businessman and newspaper proprietor who also served as an alderman and mayor of Brisbane Municipal Council,Brisbane City Council Archives a Member of the Legisl ...
who purchased 6980 acres of hinterland in 1873 to drain it into
Little Tallebudgera Creek to create land for dairy farming.
[
In the 1980s, Stephens began to develop a suburban character.
]Bond University
Bond University is Australia's first private university, private not-for-profit university and is located in Robina, Queensland, Robina on the Gold Coast, Queensland. Since its opening on 15 May 1989, Bond University has primarily been a teachi ...
was established in Stephens in 1987 when the Parliament of Queensland
The Parliament of Queensland is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature, legislative body of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland. As provided under the Constitution of Queensland, the Parliament consists o ...
granted it university status via the passage of the Bond University Act. The University commenced teaching in May 1989 with an initial intake of 322 students.History , Introducing Bond , Bond University , Gold Coast, Australia
. Bond.edu.au (1989-05-15). Retrieved on 2013-07-17.
In 2002, Stephens was merged with
Andrews Andrews may refer to:
Places Australia
*Andrews, Queensland
*Andrews, South Australia
United States
*Andrews, Florida (disambiguation), various places
*Andrews, Indiana
*Andrews, Nebraska
*Andrews, North Carolina
*Andrews, Oregon
*Andrews, South ...
and a portion of
Robina, to form the new suburb of
Varsity Lakes
Varsity Lakes is a Suburbs and localities (Australia), suburb in the City of Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. In the , Varsity Lakes had a population of 16,493 people.
The suburb was originally known as ''Stephens'' but in 2002 Stephens, Quee ...
and the West Burleigh part of
Burleigh Heads.
Stephens is no longer an official placename.
See also
*
Suburbs of the Gold Coast
References
External links
*
{{Localities in Gold Coast
Suburbs of the Gold Coast, Queensland
Varsity Lakes, Queensland