GOLD COAST: Matthew Flinders & the Coastal Landforms of SE Australia

The Gold Coast presents many views of the ocean, the famous beach strip, and mountains of the hinterland. The presence of sand is vital to the appearance and enjoyment of this area; hence sand is also crucial to the economic well-being of this area. Sand is a key part of the 'sun, surf and sand' tourism formula of coastal Australia. Confirming the value of sand, extensive rehabilitation projects abound along the Coast's foreshores, promoting dune buildup through revegetation. A wide sand and vegetation 'barrier' between sea and urban development, as well as appearing attractive, helps to protect landward areas from sand drift and salt spray, and ultimately, even from the threat of marine erosion. Bare dune sand is moved around by wind, a situation that continues until stabilised by grasses and other plants. For this reason, it is necessary to control dune use (wherever possible there should be few people, no vehicles, and no further development) to retain vegetation. Unfortunately, in many coastal areas, introduced plants are now widespread, and are difficult to remove.	'Captain Cook's soundings ... Fine ... Point Danger ....' - from Flinders' chart (NE NSW) Photo 1: Gold Coast beachscape, looking north to Surfers Paradise
The dune sand shown (above) has been blown landwards from the beach. Beach sand has been brought by currents and drift from offshore and along the coastline ( mainly from rivers to the south, and to some extent, from the weathering of coastal cliffs/headlands).
The long sweep of the beach continues to the south, interrupted only by several small headlands (compare this with the headland-beach sequence at Sydney and Newcastle where beaches are generally not as long). In the distance, is Coolangatta, just north of the Qld-NSW border. The headlands are mainly composed of relatively old and resistant metamorphic rocks of sedimentary origin. Most are capped with basalt, remnants of widespread lava flows of the Tweed Volcano (which erupted about 20 million years ago) - see Mt Warning Info Page.	Photo 2: Gold Coast beachscape, looking south to Burleigh and Coolangatta
Sandy coastlines alter rapidly in terms of many other landform changes. The constant wave action moves sand in and out of the beach zone, while winds can reshape sand dunes above water level. At the shoreline, a current moves sand along the beach; here the nett movement of sand is from south to north. Shown are gentle wave reworking sand into a minor and temporary underwater sand spit. Waves are seen travelling in two different directions (one set of waves is being reflected by the beach). In general, when conditions are mild, the waves reaching the coastline push sand onto the beach from offshore deposits. The two panorama photos above show a wide beach, built after a relatively long period without destructive waves.	Photo Enlargement: 'Castles of sand, castles of concrete' Photo 3: Gentle constructional waves, Gold Coast
Flinders did not directly explore the coastline of the area presently known as the Gold Coast. He passed by well east of the coastline, thereby unable to add information to Captain Cook's existing chart. However, offshore depth soundings and wind information were recorded and included on Flinders' chart. His chart of this area was based upon information gathered by Captain James Cook several decades earlier.
Clean, cream-coloured sand is a feature of the beaches of southeastern Australia. While much valuable economic tourism is based upon this natural asset, the sandy portions of the coastline offer great beauty to residents and pleasant beach fishing opportunities. Many Australians aspire to live near the sea. Beach sand may be mixed with shells and small, 'polished' pebbles. During a storm, larger shells and stones may be washed up from offshore areas onto the beach by waves. Should a sand mass be converted into rock by later geological processes (this is most likely to happen on a large scale at a river mouth), the rock called sandstone will result. When a large proportion of rounded gravel is included, the rock is called conglomerate.	Photo 4: Gold Coast beach surface
The economic well-being of the Gold Coast (on the southern border coast of Queensland) depends upon attractive, well-supplied, sandy beaches. This depends upon natural replenishment of sand, something that has been disrupted by various human activities. Given that much of the Gold Coast's sand supply depends upon materials drifting north from NSW, it is necessary that the two states cooperate. A recent major project aims to ensure that the necessary sand reaches Gold Coast beaches. Sand is dredged from the wide Letitia Spit (northern NSW, just south of the Tweed River and its southern breakwater). This is pumped around the breakwater in pipes, and added to the sand supply on the northern side of the northern breakwater, to then drift naturally to the beaches along the Gold Coast (north of the border).	Tweed River Sand Bypassing Project Photo 5 (above): Signboard, Letitia spit Both photos near the mouth of Tweed River, NSW Photo 6 (below): Jetty, part of sand replenishment system, Letitia spit
Much of the attraction of the Gold Coast and the adjacent Tweed Coast to the south is found in the vegetation and public parkland behind the beaches. The vegetation protects the sand dunes, reduces wind strength, provides habitat, and offers a visually appealing, green corridor. Various conservation bodies and community groups, in conjunction with local councils, carry out coastline improvement projects. Greening Australia is one of these bodies, often working with schools, to plant trees and shrubs in appropriate locations (see photo, right). Why involve students? Part of the underlying philosophy of such projects is that the spreading of responsibility for environmental matters across the community will ultimately lead to improved care of sensitive areas by more people.	Photo 7: School group tree planting, Kingscliffe Beach, NSW