REMEMBER WHEN

GOLD COAST BULLETIN Thursday, October 22, 1998

DEVELOPMENT on Wavebreak Island has been a hot topic for decades as plans were floated to give the man-made formation a new purpose.

A Gold Coast yacht club wanted to build a $10 million deep water harbour, clubhouse and townhouse complex on Wavebreak Island in the middle of the Broadwater.

The plan called for a bridge from Marine Pde near the junction with Burrows St at Biggera Waters across the northwest side of the island.

It was said that for the proposal to go ahead, extensive dredging and reclamation work would need to be carried out and the northwest side of the Island extended to take in the harbour, clubhouse, townhouse and unit blocks.

Talks were said to have been under way between officials of the Gold Coast Cruising Yacht Club and officers from the Department of Natural Resources, Queensland Transport and Gold Coast City Council for more than two months.

Club commodore Betty Dunn unveiled the proposal to the Bulletin and the whole plan was designed to benefit the public, not just the club.

“The bridge will open up the island to everyone and the club will be responsible for keeping the island clean,” she said.

“At present the island can only be used by a select few – if you aren’t rich enough to own a boat you can’t go there.”

The proposal was the second plan to target the undeveloped island which was discussed as a cruise ship terminal location by a leading architect at the time.