During the early years in which Southport was the urban centre of recreational activity at the coast, visitors were ferried across the Broadwater to surf at the Main Beach so named because it was the main surf beach for the town of Southport.
Until the 1870s and 1880s the only activity in the sand spit at the northern end were limited to facilities associated with the Southport Yacht Club and other maritime activities.
Government sales of allotments Main Beach Southport (with map), 1923
The construction of the Jubilee Bridge led to land sales in the area. The Queensland Government surveyed 252 blocks of land for perpetual land leases which it sold in stages from December 1922.[5][6] The area became more popular following the opening of the bridge in 1926, when land was purchased and holiday houses were constructed. Some guest houses were also constructed but little or no permanent population was located in the area. Some evidence remains of the area's early popularity as a surfing beach in the beachfront planting and the kiosk and shelter shed from 1934.
In the 1950s, reclamation of the Nerang River to the west of the earlier subdivision created the area centred on Tedder Avenue. A different subdivision pattern in that portion of Main Beach is the result.
The construction of the Sundale Bridge and the deviation of highway to the west of Main Beach took place in the late 1960s.
Similarly the land to the north of the early subdivision – the sand spit that formed one bank of the bar – was only recently developed. Its use is still limited to resort hotels and theme parks now occupy the land. Revegetation of the Southport Spit followed the construction of the Gold Coast Seaway and gives particular character to this area and acts to link the more intensively developed area to the south with the open areas of the Broadwater and Southern Moreton Bay.
Main Beach property has developed as a high rise area only relatively recently and is focused on the eTedder Avenue which features restaurants, cafes, and boutiques. It has a sense of more permanent residential neighbourhood than other parts of the high-rise coastal strip. Most of the apartment buildings along the foreshore are more modest in scale. The isthmus at Narrowneck acts as a natural barrier to the more intensively developed area to the south.
The Gold Coast Oceanway travels on the seaward side of the Southport SLSC but then diverts inland to travel behind beachfront houses of Main Beach down to Narrowneck. Some local residents would like a new Oceanway pavement constructed along the road reserve between the beachfront houses and the dune area.
On 1 September 1967, the town of Southport East was officially renamed Main Beach.[2]
At the 2011 census, the suburb of Main Beach had a population of 3,496 people.[7]
In the 2016 census, the suburb of Main Beach had a population of 3,883 people. 59.4% of people were born in Australia. The next most common countries of birth were New Zealand 5.6% and England 5.3%. 75.6% of people spoke only English at home. The most common responses for religion were No Religion 26.9%, Catholic 23.3% and Anglican 18.1%.[1]
Heritage listings
Main Beach logo
Main Beach has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:
^"MAIN BEACH ALLOTMENTS". The Queenslander. No. 2947. Queensland, Australia. 24 February 1923. p. 9. Retrieved 23 July 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
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