Cavill Avenue is a

street A street is a public thoroughfare in a city, town or village, typically lined with Building, buildings on one or both sides. Streets often include pavements (sidewalks), pedestrian crossings, and sometimes amenities like Street light, streetligh ...

and a

pedestrian mall Pedestrian zones (also known as auto-free zones and car-free zones, as pedestrian precincts in British English, and as pedestrian malls in the United States and Australia) are areas of a city or town restricted to use by people on foot or ...

Surfers Paradise Surfing is a list of surface water sports, surface water sport in which an individual, a surfer (or two in Glossary of surfing, tandem surfing), uses a board to ride on the forward section, or face, of a moving wind wave, wave of water, whic ...

Gold Coast, Queensland The Gold Coast, also known by its initials, GC, is a coastal city and region in the state of Queensland, Australia, located approximately south-southeast of the centre of the list of Australian capital cities, state capital, Brisbane. It is ...

, Australia. It is in the heart of the Surfers Paradise shopping and entertainment district. It was named in honour of the man credited as the founder of Surfers Paradise,

James Cavill James Freeman Cavill (c.1862 –1952 in Surfers Paradise, Queensland) a Brisbane hotelier, was one of the pioneers of the Gold Coast, Queensland, Gold Coast, Australia. Early life Information about his early life is sketchy as he told a numbe ...

, known as Jim Cavill.

History

In 1887, German immigrant Johann Meyer operated a ferry across the

Nerang River The Nerang River is a perennial river in South East Queensland, Australia. Its drainage basin, catchment lies within the City of Gold Coast, Gold Coast Local government in Queensland, local government area and covers an area of . The river is app ...

. From

Southport Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...

, travellers would follow the Meyer's Ferry Road (now

Ferry Road Ferry Road is one of the major roads of Edinburgh, Scotland, deriving its name from being the road from Queensferry to Leith. It runs from the eastern end of Davidson's Mains village in the west, to Leith in the east, passing through Drylaw, ...

) to a spit of land that created a narrow point in the river () (the narrow spit is no longer in existence due to changes in the river and the creation of

Chevron Island Chevron Island is an urban island that lies in the Nerang River and is a neighbourhood within the suburb of Surfers Paradise onn the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. History Chevron Island is a natural island previously known as Goat Islan ...

but is in the vicinity of the

Gold Coast Arts Centre Home of the Arts (HOTA), opened as the Keith Hunt Community Entertainment and Arts Centre in 1986 and subsequently renamed The Arts Centre Gold Coast (TAC) and Gold Coast Arts Centre, is a cultural precinct situated in Surfers Paradise, City of ...

). From that point, Meyer's ferry would take the travellers across the river to Meyer's Ferry Road at Elston (as Surfers Paradise was then known) along which the travellers would walk to the surf beach. Businesses established along Meyer's Ferry Road at Elston which created the main street of Surfers Paradise now known as Cavill Avenue. Although the surf beaches of Elston were a popular destination, the lack of road access limited the extent of residential and commercial development. It was not until 1925, when the Jubilee Bridge was built across the Nerang River between Southport and Main Beach, that Surfers Paradise was opened up for tourism and associated development. During the same period Jim Cavill built the Surfers Paradise Hotel on the south eastern corner of Ferry Road and the South Coast Road. In 1945, in response to a letter from Mr. E Shersby to name streets after local pioneers, the Southport Town Council decided to rename the section of Ferry Road east of the Nerang River, and in front of the Surfers Paradise Hotel, in honour of Jim Cavill. It was decided to name the section of Ferry Road west of the Nerang River after Johann Meyer.

Geography

Between the Surfers Paradise Beach and Orchid Avenue, Cavill Avenue is a

. The Centro Surfers Paradise is a major shopping centre on pedestrian section of Cavill Avenue. The Circle on Cavill is the second shopping center on the street, located at the western end of the road, near 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, ...

. Located near the intersection of Surfers Paradise Boulevard and Cavill Avenue is the G:link Cavill Avenue Station. The G:link is the Gold Coast's new light rail system connecting

Broadbeach Broadbeach is a Suburbs and localities (Australia), suburb in the City of Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. In the , Broadbeach had a population of 6,786 people. Geography The Broadbeach stretch was originally coastal forest. This gradual ...

with

Helensvale Helensvale is a northern suburb of the City of Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia. In the , Helensvale had a population of 18,949 people. Geography Helensvale is bounded by the Pacific Motorway to the west, by the Coomera River to the no ...

via Surfers Paradise, Main Beach,

Gold Coast University Hospital Gold Coast University Hospital (GCUH or GCH), also simply known as Gold Coast Uni Hospital, is a major teaching hospital and a tertiary-level district general hospital on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, opened on 28 September 2013. The h ...

and Parkwood The

Soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

is a 243 m tall

skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Most modern sources define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition, other than being very tall high-rise bui ...

and the second tallest skyscraper on the Gold Coast behind Q1. The building is situated on the Esplanade just to the north of Cavill Avenue. At the river end of the street are the two towers of Circle on Cavill.

Events

The mall is the centre of the annual Schoolies celebrations. According to crime statistics the mall is an alcohol fueled violence hotspot.

References

{{coord, -28.00199, 153.42976, display=title History of Gold Coast, Queensland Streets on the Gold Coast, Queensland Tourism on the Gold Coast, Queensland Surfers Paradise, Queensland Entertainment districts in Australia Red-light districts in Australia Tourist attractions on the Gold Coast, Queensland

History

Geography

Events

See also

References