Rubber Necking

Wars have been fought over narrow strips of land and the Gold Coast's Narrowneck is no different.

The war has been between man and the elements.

Ever since Southport was settled in 1875, the stretch of vegetated sand separating the Nerang River from the Coral Sea has seen its share of battles with cyclones, floods and king tides threatening Narrowneck's very existence.

The allure of river on one side and stretches of beach on the other has attracted holiday makers for almost a century.

This English-made candy dish bares the Delphine stamp used by Hudson and Middleton in 1955 but it is bound to be earlier judging by the sepia tone, hand painted picture.

It doesn't do Narrowneck justice.

Perhaps the original photograph will.

Judging by the car, I would suggest perhaps a 1940s vintage. Also notice a little bit of vintage 'PhotoShopping'? The telegraph poles have magically disappeared in the image used for the dish.

A copy of the photograph is held at the Gold Coast's Local Studies Library but its copyright is held by Murray Views a company that started producing local souvenirs in 1908 and judging by their web site, still going strong.

However to appreciate how precarious the little stretch of land is, we need to take a different view - like overhead.

Thanks to an artificial surf reef and lack of severe cyclones in the past few decades, many people have forgotten the strong seas, storms and flooding nearly caused Narrowneck to breach as late as 1967.

How different things might have been if someone had taken one of the Queensland Department of Main Road suggestions to fill in Narrowneck and create a new Nerang River mouth as shown in this 1963 map and proposal.