Surf's Up

Nick and Nora were hoping to spend their Christmas-New Year break photographing the Gold Coast's hidden historical gems but the weather has been somewhat cyclonic.

Really.

So instead we return to the city's souvenirs to uncover one of the most picturesque beachside villages in the city - Kirra.

Long famed for its surf, Kirra is just a few hundred metres north of Coolangatta and as its landmarks has two delightful historic buildings still in active use today - the Kirra Beach Hotel - completely unchanged from this picture - and the adjacent Kirra Beach Pavilion.

The first Surf Life Saving carnival was held on the beach in 1928.

There's been a pavilion along with accommodation on the site since the 1920s.


At left is a photograph taken of what appears to be the local surf life saving club members with the pavilion in the background. It's an entirely wooden series of structures the hug the point which sweeps south to Coolangatta. It's difficult to see from the picture but one would imagine the road behind it to be little more than graded gravel or a thin ribbon of tarmac.


Taken from roughly the same location is this beautifully hand coloured and remarkably detailed transfer print looking along the beach. Clearly visible is the club pennant and the iconic lifesaving reels.

The porcelain pin dish is an incongruously stylised maple leaf made in Czechoslovakia.

One cannot be certain what happened to the original building but it's not too much of a stretch to think that it may have succumbed to cyclonic conditions.

The new low-rise Kirra Beach Pavilion was officially opened in 1935.

At left is a sepia transfer on a cup, saucer and plate trio of a view taken from Kirra Hill. The view sweeps north to the seaside villages of Bilinga and Tugun. Don't forget to click on any of these images for a larger view.


At right appears to be the photograph on which the transfer print was based. The new pavilion was finished in the Spanish-inspired stucco that appears to be quite popular at the time. But unlike those Pavilions, Kirra was the biggest and housed not only the amenities but also had room for the surf club and restaurant.


But the new structure and faced its most serious test a year later when a cyclone threatened to wash the building into the sea.

The cyclone that struck in May 1936 may have spared the Kirra Beach Pavilion but it took out the Surf Life Saving Club to the north at Main Beach.

Now the issue isn't too little sand but too much.

Oh well, maybe another cyclone will change that.