Bilinga () is a southern coastal

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

in the

City of Gold Coast The City of Gold Coast is the Local government in Australia, local government area spanning the Gold Coast, Queensland, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, and surrounding areas. With a population of 606,774, it is the second most populous local ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, Australia. It is on the border with

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

. In the , Bilinga had a population of 1,883 people.

Geography

Bilinga is bounded by Boyd Street to the north-west, the

Coral Sea The Coral Sea () is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific off the northeast coast of Australia, and classified as an Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia, interim Australian bioregion. The Coral Sea extends down t ...

to the east, and the border with

to the west. The entire eastern coastline of the suburb is a continuous sandy surf beach, with the northern end known as Bilinga Beach () and the southern end known as North Kirra Beach (). Immediately inland from the beach is a narrow strip of housing (the only residential part of the suburb).

Gold Coast Airport Gold Coast Airport (formerly known as Coolangatta Airport; ) is a Domestic airport, domestic and International airport, international Australian airport located at the southern end of the Gold Coast, Queensland, Gold Coast and approximately ...

(formerly the Coolangatta Airport, ) occupies the majority of the suburb, extending across the border into Tweed Heads West in New South Wales. The

Gold Coast Desalination Plant The Gold Coast Desalination Plant is a reverse osmosis, water desalination plant located in Bilinga, a seaside suburb of the Gold Coast, in Queensland, Australia. It supplies water to the South East Queensland region via the South East Que ...

is in the north-west of the suburb (). The Gold Coast campus () of the

Southern Cross University Southern Cross University (SCU) is an Australian public university, with campuses at Lismore and Coffs Harbour in northern New South Wales, and at Coolangatta, the most southern suburb of the Gold Coast in Queensland. In 2019, it was ranke ...

(headquartered in Lismore,

) is in the south of the suburb. The

Gold Coast Highway Gold Coast Highway links the coastal suburbs of the Gold Coast in south eastern Queensland such as Miami, Mermaid Beach, Tugun, Bilinga and across the border of New South Wales to the Tweed Heads suburb of Tweed Heads West. At in length, ...

enters the suburb from the north ( Tugun) and mostly separating the residential ara from the airport and other infrastructure before exiting to the south (Tweed Heads West /

Tweed Heads Tweed Heads is a coastal city at the mouth of the Tweed River in the Northern Rivers region of the state of New South Wales, Australia. Tweed Heads is the northernmost town in New South Wales, and is located in the Tweed Shire local government ...

) towards the Pacific Motorway.

History

The word "Bilinga" is derived from the word "Bilinba", meaning bats. The name was adopted in 1918 as a place name for Crown lands north of

Coolangatta Coolangatta is a coastal suburb in the City of Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. It is the Gold Coast's southernmost suburb and it borders New South Wales. In the , Coolangatta had a population of 6,491 people. History Coolangatta is situat ...

. In February 1908, 5 land portions were advertised to be open for selection as agricultural farms and unconditional selections by the Department of Public Lands office. The map advertising the selection, surveyed by J.H.Jensen, shows the portions 84 to 88 situated between the South Coast railway line in the north and the tick fence to the south. After the land sales, a rail siding was created in 1919. It was located roughly at the intersection of the Gold Coast Highway and George Street (). After 1919, the catalyst for an increase in development was said to be the erection of a general store, owned by businessman Percy Hanzel, near the rail siding. Furthermore, increased development could be attributed to a new coastal road, which improved access to the area for holiday makers and residents. The drowning of a man on Bilinga Beach in 1937 led to the establishment of the Bilinga Surf Lifesaving Club in 1938. In 1989, Bilinga received 50,000 cubic metres of sand as part of a beach nourishment program. During 2020 and 2021, the Queensland borders were closed to most people due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Border crossing points were either closed or had a

Queensland Police The Queensland Police Service (QPS) is the principal law enforcement agency responsible for policing the Australian state of Queensland. In 1990, the Queensland Police Force was officially renamed the Queensland Police Service and the old motto ...

checkpoint to allow entry to only those people with an appropriate permit. The

at Bilinga was one of the police border checkpoints.

Demographics

In the , Bilinga had a population of 1,662 people. In the , Bilinga had a population of 1,804 people. The median age of the Bilinga population was 47 years, 9 years above the national median of 38. 66.8% of people were born in Australia and 78.2% of people spoke only English at home. The most common responses for religion were No Religion 27.5% and Catholic 21.5%. In the , Bilinga had a population of 1,883 people.

Education

There are no schools in Bilinga. The nearest primary school is Coolangatta State School in neighbouring

to the south-east. The nearest secondary school is

Palm Beach Currumbin State High School Palm Beach Currumbin State High School is an independent public, co-educational, secondary school, located in the Gold Coast suburb of Palm Beach, in Queensland, Australia. It is administered by the Department of Education, with an enrolment ...

in Palm Beach to the north-west. The Gold Coast campus of Southern Cross University offers a range of courses in arts, health, social science, business, education, information technology, law and tourism. The university is a partner with the Gold Coast airport and other tourism-oriented businesses to offer specialised degrees and research in aviation and tourism.

Community groups

Bilinga Surf Life Saving Club members patrol the beach on weekends and public holidays from September to May each year. Their clubhouse is at 257 Golden Four Drive () facing the beach. North Kirra Surf Life Saving Club has their clubhouse at 41 Pacific Parade on the foreshore ().

Notable people

* Gregory Shambrook (born 1953), a rugby union player, represented Australia

References

* Gresty, J.A., The Numinbah Valley: Its Geography, History and Aboriginal Associations * Watson, F.E Vocabularies of Four Representative Tribes of South East Queensland * Kerr, John. Destination South Brisbane, p. 45

External links

*
Bilinga Surf Life Saving Club
{{Localities in Gold Coast Suburbs of the Gold Coast, Queensland Coastline of Queensland