Coolangatta, Queensland

Coolangatta Gold Coast, Queensland
Coolangatta in 2003
Coolangatta
Coordinates	28°10′S 153°32′E / 28.167°S 153.533°E / -28.167; 153.533Coordinates: 28°10′S 153°32′E / 28.167°S 153.533°E / -28.167; 153.533
Population	5,193 (2011)
Established	1883
Postcode(s)	4225
Location	25 km (16 mi) from Surfers Paradise 104 km (65 mi) from Brisbane
LGA(s)	City of Gold Coast
State electorate(s)	Currumbin
Federal Division(s)	McPherson
Suburbs around Coolangatta: Bilinga Pacific Ocean Pacific Ocean Bilinga Coolangatta Pacific Ocean Tweed Hds W. Tweed Heads Tweed Heads

Coolangatta is the southernmost suburb of City of Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. It is named after the schooner Coolangatta which was wrecked there in 1846. At the 2011 Australian Census the suburb recorded a population of 5,193.

Coolangatta and its immediate neighbouring "Twin Town" Tweed Heads in New South Wales have a shared economy. The Tweed River supports a thriving fishing fleet, and the seafood is a local specialty offered in the restaurants and clubs of the holiday and retirement region on both sides of the state border. The Gold Coast Airport, formerly known as Coolangatta Airport, is located at Coolangatta, with some of the runway going across the border into New South Wales.

Coolangatta was one of the earliest settlements on the Gold Coast. Once again focused on a steep headland at Point Danger the area was occupied by Europeans from at least 1828 by a convict station and red cedar getters soon followed. Selectors followed in the 1860s and a small settlement at Coolangatta was established. In 1883 a township was surveyed.

A topsail schooner of 83 feet (25 m) in length and 88 long tons (89 t), Coolangatta was built by John Blinksell in 1843 for Alexander Berry whose property, Coolangatta Estate, adjoined Coolangatta mountain located on the northern bank of the Shoalhaven River, New South Wales. Coolangatta was wrecked on Kirra / Bilinga Beach adjacent to a creek during a storm on Wednesday August 18, 1846.

On July 6, 1846, the ship sailed under Captain Steele from Brisbane, carrying two convict prisoners (George Craig in irons, and William George Lewis), to load red cedar logs at the Tweed River for Sydney. Steele found the river entrance closed by silt forming a bar, so he anchored in the lee of Point Danger off Kirra Beach. Red cedar logs were then hauled overland from Terranora Inlet and rafted from the beach, but in six weeks less than half of the contracted 70,000 feet of red cedar had been loaded. Meanwhile, five ships loaded with red cedar were bar-bound inside the river.