The GOLD COAST SPIT - A History

[@walkaboutwithrob]

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[@dougrogan379]

As a Brisbanite I appreciate this channel, thank you very much

[@A9711Fku]

Same

[@markcoombes4693]

To all you so called "influencers" This is what an actually interesting informative person looks like. No stupid videography and sound effects to cover for your lack of any skill. Loving this quality Australian history mate 👍

[@walkaboutwithrob]

Thanks! Loved the comment!

[@OzInfidel]

I came from SE Asia in 1991 as a late teen and went straight to a boarding house in The Southport School for one year. I love GC so much that I decided to purchase a house and live here in the northern (Coomera) side of GC. There is so much interesting info about all these places that I often go to as local but never knew anything about (the story about the cable really blew me away). Thanks for making this videos Rob, now I have some history lesson about these places to tell my kids.

[@SootSootSootSooty]

I love your videos on the Gold Coast. I’ve learnt so much about where I live. It’s so fascinating and we’re never taught this in school - no locals know the history you convey in your videos. I absolutely love it. I would love you to cover Miami some day and if you want a local to show you round and shout you lunch just say ahoy. Love, love this history of our city that is so often dismissed as being culturally vacuous.

[@walkaboutwithrob]

Thank you very much for your kind words and support. I have neglected to the Gold Coast for to long and really enjoyed making the Broadbeach video. Miami is on my list of places to cover, plus Burleigh Heads and Southport. Many historical surprises to be uncovered. And many thanks for the offer of being a guide. Will be in touch!

[@kenhogan4381]

I never knew that about Southport. I will send it to my son who lives in Southport Perhaps he doesn’t know about Southport history. I love the work that you’re doing as an ex-Aussie living abroad. Well done fantastic videos

[@oldmatelinc]

Love watching your videos mate...always informative 👌 I've learnt something once again..

[@doones4649]

Ive always loved the Spit . I still stop there for smoko when near by . Seen some great bands play it over the years , Midnight Oil springs to mind . Another great vid mate . Cheers 👍

[@walkaboutwithrob]

@Doones thank you!

[@Ackdaddy100]

Love the content !Have you thought about doing a history of Ipswich area video ? The suburbs of Booval and Raceview have a really interesting history

[@walkaboutwithrob]

@Ackdaddy100 I have indeed. Just trying to choose an area within the city to focus on. So much to choose from.

[@Ackdaddy100]

@@walkaboutwithrob Where the Princess Alfred Hotel is there is allot of history with the old brewery that was there I think some of the first cotton farming in qld was in the area to it was a wealthy area originally apparently

[@tj6671]

Absolutely love your videos Rob, love learning the history of all these places in Qld!

[@divarachelenvy]

Fantastic research Rob cheers ..

[@toddjensen8806]

Such a fascinating video Rob, you’ve done it again!

[@toddjensen8806]

It takes time making these but it shows because you make some of the best content

[@walkaboutwithrob]

@@toddjensen8806 thank you very much for saying that. Really appreciate it. 👍

[@jahrap6733]

Top job, Rob!

[@nicoleshelton248]

Thanks very much for the very informative and interesting stories you do, Rob. I really appreciate them. I used to live on the Gold Coast in 1971, and then we moved to Brisbane in 1986 . I would really like to hear and see some of Miami on the Gold Coast and also of the area of Ferny Grove, Brisbane. (That is where I live now. 2024).

[@walkaboutwithrob]

I am planning on more Gold Coast content in 2024.

[@DarkMatter1992]

Well, you've done it again, I was incredibly fascinated with this one. Amazing work Rob, keep it up.

[@walkaboutwithrob]

@Daniel Warnock thank you!

[@Jeff-ty1ek]

As a local boy back in the 50's and early 60's, it was a full day's trek from Main Beach to the very end of the Spit, but the great fishing made it worthwhile. Great memories...

[@ronsmith2241]

Good video. I learned a lot. Thanks.

[@duncaninglis5407]

Brilliant video Rob I took my dog down there before Christmas for a swim & never put two thoughts into how and why it exists, that’s why I love your show mate cheers.

[@MarceloLaraM]

Interesting, I love it. Thank you Rob

[@thewarlockbride2205]

Fun fact: The Cambus Wallace used to be a visible wreck all the way up until roughly the late 1970’s 1980’s. Coincidentally this happened to be when all those sand works were taking place on the Spit. Now the Cambus Wallace is silted over. Protected from curious and daring treasure hunters like myself 😂

[@sandramackin9817]

How interesting was this and the great old aerial views . Never really thought much about how that sand got there. Thanks for that. Will look at The Spit differently next time I am down there.

[@walkaboutwithrob]

@Sandra Mackin so glad you enjoyed it. Time to make another one!

[@sandramackin9817]

@@walkaboutwithrob yes please...

[@Azz156]

I grew up at south port n had no idea about any of this. Awsum video man!

[@shellebelle53]

Drumroll please...this was the first video I ever commented on and I do believe that I have now watched and commented on every single video. I must admit I'm a little sad. I do however, have to give you my sincere thanks and gratitude for all these videos you have produced...I have learnt so much from all your research and hard work. Thank you Rob ❤😊

[@walkaboutwithrob]

@shelleigh5993 You are more than welcome, and thank you for giving your time and feedback on them. Like I think I mentioned once before, always enjoyed reading your thoughts and your connections to some of these places. The Beaudesert video is editing right now and I hope you'll enjoy that one when it lands. 🏅Gold medal to you for being the first, and maybe only person who has or ever will watch them all.

[@shellebelle53]

@walkaboutwithrob I absolutely loved watching them all, so the pleasure has been mine. I am really looking forward to watching the Beaudesert video. I'm going to be chomping at the bit for each new video now as I won't have the old ones to watch in the meantime... Although I suppose I could rinse and repeat, couldn't I 🤔😁

[@walkaboutwithrob]

@@shellebelle53 Maybe like wine they'll get better with age, so yes might be worth a revisit to some of them. Do you recall the one I liked the most?

[@shellebelle53]

@walkaboutwithrob oooh...that's a hard call. I guess I really enjoyed the Scrubby Creek and Mayes cottage videos, obviously given I grew up in the area. I really enjoyed your Stradbroke video and your overseas videos, the old churches and houses around Brisbane...dammit...they're all my favourites 😁

[@shellebelle53]

@walkaboutwithrob I just realised you asked if I remembered your favourite video not mine...oops 😁 Yes, I do. It was the short video at Currumbin with the lovely slow-motion shots 😊

[@AutomotiveAllStars]

Great video again Rob thanks again

[@LMatters1]

Rob, your videos are getting better and better. This was a beauty! Keep up the good work.

[@walkaboutwithrob]

@LMatters1 thanks so much! Made my day!

[@cherylaubrey4860]

Excellent work Rob 😊🙌

[@bobjackson4720]

At 11.14 there appears to be a huge tuning fork. That used to be one of my projects. It used to monitor the seaway tide levels and transmit the information by radio to the Coombabah WWTP. I no longer work for GCCC so it looks like it is no longer required.

[@koala2464]

Love this. I started visiting in the 70s and lived there 8 years in the 90s. I knew some of the history of its movement but knew nothing about the manmade intervention. Thanks. Love your videos. Loved the Gold Coast better in the 70s 🏄‍♀️ 🌞 🍹 😔 Avoid it now.

[@WendywdjnyJ]

😊 thankyou so much for your awesome vids 😊 it's great to have someone who can help us know more about the state we live in 😌.....if only had time (& finances) to be able to go and see all the interesting places... thankyou again looking forward to seeing more 😊

[@walkaboutwithrob]

@Wendy E J thanks so much! Will endeavour to work harder and try and make better content.

[@OldFellaDave]

Back in my early IT days I was supporting the Builder of a massive new (at the time) residential complex right there at Southport across from the Spit. Onsite, facing the street, was a showroom to entice people to walk in and buy apartments and they had all kinds of models and stuff ... but what interested me was all the old photos of Southport on the walls. Old black and white photos that showed people and buildings on the shore and looking straight out to the ocean ... wait a second, I thought, that doesn't look right ... One of the sales people came over and said, 'No, that's 100% real, back then the Spit wasn't that far north and the waves from the ocean came right up to the shore in that park across the street.' I was blown away. Had no idea at all. Still amazes me today and watching this excellent short doco.

[@howardcroft3748]

Just discovered your channel, and I think it's fantastic. As a long-time Gold Coast resident, I watched the Seaway construction. I hope you have done something on the Southport rail line? I'm going to look now!

[@walkaboutwithrob]

Thanks! I hope you've been enjoying more of my content. I haven't done the old line to Southport. Will put it on my list though

[@theoztreecrasher2647]

Interesting to see the changes over the 60years since first tackling the Southport Bar in a cousin's boat. All contact only through Alexander Graham's Tinker Bell these days. 😞

[@dronemotion4k]

Really nice informational video ❤

[@ianlavery3562]

Nice champion. Love your work mate. 😎😎😎

[@gleirianepauladesouza2926]

Amazing Robbbbb !

[@nanniecath528]

A beauty of a video on one of my fav places not far from home.

[@Diggles67]

Main Beach resident here. Thanks so much for detailing this history.

[@tpwonder99]

Fabulous Rob. So interesting.

[@thepaedophileprofit3062]

southport bar was north of where the seaway is. The seaway was constructed by building the north and south rock walls on the mainland/spit then dredging the sand out from between the walls tp create the seaway channel and putting that sand pn the southern end of straddy to close the bar entrance.

[@NoNameneeded1984]

Fascinating!

[@orvillegibson188]

Would love to see one of your adventures covering Boonah, Kalbar, and historic Spicer's Gap, with the Pioeer Graves Historic Park, and the first Macadam road in Qld, which is still there. Governor's Chair offers fine views back towards Ipswich.

[@shellebelle53]

Guilty of watching and not subscribed but all fixed now. Love your videos as a local SE Qlder all my life it's great seeing things through someone else's eyes

[@walkaboutwithrob]

@Shell thanks indeed for subscribing and watching my work. Much appreciated.

[@lucasgiles7613]

Thank you, and keep up the amazing informative content about SEQ

[@ozziecozzie274]

I'm very familiar with the Spit, my son was a naval cadet with TS Tyalgum that was next to The Southport Yacht Club! You have a lovely smile Rob! Just sayin 😉❤️

[@KalaniAmosa]

I love your channel bro! Youve taught me heaps about SEQ

[@walkaboutwithrob]

@Mad Alamist thank you so much for watching! Really appreciate your feedback.

[@frodosadventures8757]

Another really interesting video! I think it's really interesting how that characteristic sweep replicates its self again and again up the coast untill Great Sandy Cape. Eroding away sand on the northern side of the rocky headlands and sand accumulating and over flowing on the southern side of the headlands. I've often wondered if once the Northerly sand drift pushed the combined mouths of the Nerang, Albert and Logan Rivers all the way to Point Lookout. That same curve extends all the way around from Tweed Heads to Point Lookout. I also reckon that Fraser Island was once connected to the mainland at Inskip Point. You can see that same sweep again from DI Point, all the way to Indian Head. When the Sandy Straights broke through, sand has accumulated on the S. end of Fraser, extending the beach Eastward, but you can see a sharp line where the higher, older sand dunes start. The beach once would have been at the base if these higher dunes, and this perfectly aligns with the sweep of the Coast. Wouldn't it be great to have a time machine and go back and have a look!

[@wendybrealey8368]

Just brilliant thanks Rob. You have reminded me it’s been decades since visiting the Spit and I must remedy that this year, armed with all your history info! Also the parallels to what is happening now with Bribie is fascinating.

[@walkaboutwithrob]

@Wendy Brealey thanks! Yes, it sounds like it's time for you to make a return visit. What's going on at Bribe?

[@wendybrealey8368]

@@walkaboutwithrob The sea break through up the top so there is now a north and south Bribie and the old Caloundra bar is now almost totally closed over by sand so at low tide I think you can now walk across to "north Bribie" from Bulcock Beach. When I did it a few weeks ago it was a short deep wade/shallow swim but I hear not even that now. There are some wallabies still living over there. They were going to move them off but obviously decided there is enough food and water for them not to - well not yet. Some of the old war emplacements now on the top of "south Bribie" have been washed away/are now out to sea so no longer on shore.

[@johncrowe278]

Amazing. I used to live in Surfers Paradise. Just wondering Rob could you do my new home Newstead? Or Fortitude Valley?

[@walkaboutwithrob]

@John Crowe Am happy to report my next video will be about Teneriffe.

[@JennyEkberg]

I used to live near Newstead and the Valley too. In the woolstores and in a basement under an old boarding house in New Farm. Basement sounds bad but it was actually pretty with old pressed metal ceilings and its own little garden.

[@zachevans3020]

Hey Rob this a pretty cool video, I am teaching a class about the history of a place called lock (a somewhat freshwater stream near Mudgeeraba) This place is fascinating and the ecosystem inside is a flagrant and beautiful thing and im sure you will find it interesting. I was hoping you could make a video for my class as they love your channel. Regards Zach.

[@walkaboutwithrob]

I have been thinking of doing a doco about Mudgeeraba. I am happy to make custom videos but in these instances there would be a fee involved.

[@zachevans3020]

@@walkaboutwithrob Hey Rob, where can I get in touch?

[@walkaboutwithrob]

@@zachevans3020 [e-mail]

[@BARNESSHANE713]

Cool video

[@amandakennewell6681]

This is great!

[@martingoodef811]

Would be good to see how the sand is transferred to south stradbroke, will have to look for videos

[@walkaboutwithrob]

@Martin Goodef' at 14:19 I explained how it worked, but yes there are other videos that will go into more detail about the mechanics of it.

[@kevinmahernz]

Thanks, I learnt a lot. Have wondered a little how ships could have come and gone from Southport, but didn't know it would been straight to open seas back then.

[@peterwaterton7016]

Very informative 👏

[@paulw4090]

Great video thanks Rob

[@pauldaviesvoiceover]

Great video Rob, thanks. What about the Mirage hovercraft service from Brisbane? “Too good to be true” 😉 Anyone have any info?

[@clubgus07]

Rob looked like lovely Day on the Goldie, and great information on the Spit and very soon if the Pollis have their way a Cruise Terminal or some sort of pier that can dock cruise liners, I have to check with your back catalog if youve done the infamous Tiplers passage and the turbulant Resort that was on South Staddie but its a interesting area of the rise and fall and power and hungry of building the Gold coast

[@walkaboutwithrob]

@Michael Garcia thanks for all your recent comments. I read them all and really appreciate the time you put into them. Always a good read. At the present time I think the cruise terminal on the Gold Coast probably won't happen. The new terminal in Brisbane cost a fortune and as such I don't think the state government will invest in another any time soon. And from what I understand, the Seaway and Broadwater are not quite as stable as they appear so it might be tricky, and maybe even dangerous, to build a massive development on such potentially unstable lands. We'll just have to see what happens in the coming years.

[@GlennosMetals]

From drama and dance sing to film now paragliding .gee you got some life Rob all that at your young age...😊❤it

[@walkaboutwithrob]

I’m almost 53, not quite so young now! But thank you though 😊

[@LL-xb3xv]

Love your videos, so interesting

[@walkaboutwithrob]

Thanks!

[@jedichris79]

Great vid

[@rogergreen9861]

Re Marineland: I was a huge fan of the round viewing aquarium there, and they had a swimming pool dolphin display show, but when Keith Williams relocated his Nerang River ski shows at Carrara to The Spit via building Sea World and adding in dolphin shows and hoopla, Marineland was a dead man walking.

[@iloveanimals1662]

Fascinating 👏🏻

[@JennyEkberg]

My local beach, I go there about every other day. Live in Labrador.

[@walkaboutwithrob]

@JennyEkberg A truly enviable place to live. Everything is close by, even on foot. I enjoy jogging and long walks (of course) and have spent many happy hours explore that part of the Gold Coast. Also parasailed over it once!

[@uzetaab]

Wow. Stradbroke was not always 1 island? Amazing! (Yes, yes. I know you only have to look at a map to realise it was 1 island. What I didn't know was how recently it was 1 island.)

[@walkaboutwithrob]

@uzetaab yes it really wasn't all that long ago that it was split. There are some signs that eventually the two islands will rejoin...

[@t-rocks1960]

Hey Rob, Great Video, It's always good to get some sand between your toes. mmm From the comment below, "Brisbanite" would be a good name for the TUFF. - T-Rocks. 😎

[@walkaboutwithrob]

@T-ROCKS 😆😅🤣😂

[@rmar127]

Chances are that without human intervention, that the during a flood period the Nerang river would have broken through a narrow section of the spit further south, creating a new mouth for the river and turning part of the spit into an island. And again the mouth would slowly migrate north, until during another storm event the river breaks through the spit and so on and so on. Mother Nature would not simply keep migrating the mouth ever further north for eternity.

[@JustRootsAndLeaves]

Cable Park. "I thought it was a toilet block" I see what your did there.

[@harryscarry6064]

Ha ha!

[@johnledingham852]

The Southport Spit....Golly!

[@melissacostin4464]

you'reagood presenter with excellent production skills and local knowledge. Thinking you'd begood at making Doco's for cultural center in Victoria park / Barambin.. did BCC podcasting intro last weekend, ledby a Yuggera producer at ABClinked to frontier's wars stories.. for dource info / coolaboration. Same woman doing podcasting part 2 on 20thmay bcc lib .. doubtyouneed the upskill but may-be the contacts if such interestsyou. Floated same idea in Vicpk/ Barambin golf club event for reconciliation , so have a few big names in social sector with heritage from that Isuggested they film trad voices re issues to message stick around state... ps golden voice

[@jamescolindaley]

yep, the whole of gold coast is built on a very,very rare , well the only one of its kind swamp which also is gone for ever ,well , because the gold coast is plonked straight on top of it ...hahahaha..

[@11buster1000]

Live here all my life, surfed here, watched the walls go in. And passed that red brick block house for 60 years now. And I'll be fucked if I new what it was. Thanks for that. I'm going down there tomorrow and checking it out. Cable park shit.😅

[@walkaboutwithrob]

That's the thing about local history, it's hidden in plain sight.