SPLASH OF THE TITANS
It took 20 years to build the Gold Coast’s canal estates, but their legacy has lasted more than half a century
THE creation of the Gold Coast’s famous canal estates between the 1950s and 1990s changed the face of the city and played a key role in its property booms.
These man-made marvels began in the 1950s and gained prominence in the following decade with the Isle of Capri and Sorrento.
Primarily designed by hydro-engineer and developer Jock McIlwain, they were inspired by those of Miami, Florida.
The desire for waterfront living was so strong that it turned these areas, as well as Chevron Island, into the city’s most expensive property for two decades.
Their success also led to hundreds of new man-made waterfront housing developments.
This decades-long frenzy resulted in the Gold Coast today having more canals than Venice.
The 200ha of land now known as Florida Gardens was bought by Savoy Hotels in 1956, but the company was unable to build there because the state government took until 1958 to pass the Queensland Canals Act.
Frustrated, Savoy sold out in 1960 to Lois and Barry Cleland, who dredged and developed the low-lying area progressively through the decade.
Picking up the baton from Isle of Capri developer and mayor Sir Bruce Small, Mr McIlwain proceeded to dramatically expand the canal network with a range of developments in the city’s central suburbs, including Coral Gables, Evandale Waters and the Waterways Wonderland estates.
These areas, built through the 1970s and 1980s, are the canals which form what is today Mermaid Waters and Broadbeach Waters.
Mr McIlwain himself ultimately settled on one of his own parcels at Mermaid Waters, where he lived until his death in 2016.
The city’s north also went through dramatic changes between the 1950s and 1980s as land was subdivided and canals built.
In 1967, developer Neil McCowan snapped up more than 182ha of land on the Broadwater then known as Angler’s Paradise.
In 1972, through his company Lae Enterprises, Mr McCowan subdivided the area and renamed much of it Runaway Bay.
Mr McCowan’s attempt to rename the area was shot down by the state government but, determined to get his way, he simply gave the name to its post office in a bid to popularise it.
The government finally relented in the early 1980s.
Ralph Faulkinder bought up 200ha in Paradise Point and Hollywell in the early 1950s for 600 in back pay from World War II.
However, the first canal estates were not built there until 1970 when Paradise Point Keys went on the market.
Major developer Lewis Land moved in to build the project and, buying up large swathes of land, ultimately developed both Sovereign Islands and Ephraim Island.
By the early 1980s, Biggera Waters was also completed.
Joining the frenzy by the early 1980s was billionaire Bob Ell and his company Leda Holdings, which bought up large parcels of swampland at the back of Carrara and built the Clear Island Waters estate.
In 1987, the central Gold Coast suburb of Stephens became the home of a giant manmade lake as part of the Bond University development.
The Bond Corporation, led by colourful businessman Alan Bond, commissioned Neumann Dredging Company, led by fellow former Gold Coast mayor Robert Neumann, to build a giant waterway, which he anticipated would become home to rowing and other major sporting events.
Originally known as Bond University Lake, it was dubbed Lake Orr when the areas surrounding it were bought by developer Delphin in the late 1990s and renamed Varsity Lakes.
But by the early 1990s, the canals were falling into disrepair. Their maintenance was a source of ongoing tensions between the Gold Coast and Albert Shire councils.
Restoring them was cited as a major logistic reason behind the 1995 amalgamation of the councils.
However, this work was largely left on the backburner for a decade until the Gold Coast was devastated by a “one in 1000-year” flood in June, 2005.
More than 600mm of rain fell on the city and the downpour was too much for the outdated pipes, which backed up on the night.
Residents across the Coast woke up on June 30, 2005, to flooding, with more than 70 roads made impassable.
Council’s long-outdated water infrastructure and the sprawling canal estates were blamed for leaving the region vulnerable to such a significant weather event.
A 2005 council report released in the aftermath of the floods revealed much of the city remained at risk. The lowlying Florida Gardens was singled out as a major concern.
Council was forced to spend more than $1 billion over the following decade to floodproof the city.