Tweed Heads, New South Wales

History

In 1823 John Oxley was the first European to see the Tweed Valley, and he wrote of it: "A deep rich valley clothed with magnificent trees, the beautiful uniformity of which was only interrupted by the turns and windings of the river, which here and there appeared like small lakes. The background was Mt. Warning. The view was altogether beautiful beyond description. The scenery here exceeded anything I have previously seen in Australia."

Timber cutters originally moved to the Tweed Valley in 1844. After the timber had been cleared, farmers moved in with bananas, cane and dairy farming dominating the area, while a fishing industry developed. The first school opened in 1871.

Tweed Heads was once connected to the Queensland Railways system, with the South Coast line providing a direct connection to Brisbane. The railway opened on 10 August 1903 It had been hoped that the New South Wales government would extend their railway line from Murwillumbah to Tweed Heads, but this did not occur due to cost of resuming the land and the expenses associated with the tunnel and bridge that would be required. The Tweed Heads railway station was located on the western side of Enid Street between Bay Street and Frances Street (28.17193°S 153.54073°E / -28.17193; 153.54073 (Tweed Heads railway station)). The railway line to Brisbane closed in 1961; the site of the station has been converted to parklands and commercial development.

The Tweed Heads and Coolangatta Surf Life Saving Club opened on 13 September 1911.

The Tweed Shire, inclusive Murwillumbah was declared in 1947.

Tourism

Given its closeness to the Gold Coast, Tweed Heads has a shared economy with Coolangatta based heavily on tourism.

Tweed Heads' most popular tourist destinations include Mount Warning, one of the largest shield volcanoes in the Southern Hemisphere, and the nearby Nightcap, Border Ranges, Springbrook and Lamington National Parks, which abound with sub-tropical fauna and flora.

Television

Some areas of the Tweed can receive both tv broadcasts from Brisbane and Northern New South Wales. Brisbane stations are Seven Brisbane BTQ, Nine Brisbane QTQ, and Ten Brisbane TVQ. The local Northern NSW stations are Prime7, NBN Television and Southern Cross Ten.

Demographics

In the 2011 census, Tweed Heads recorded a population of 7,525 people made up of 52.8 percent female and 47.2 percent male. The median age of the population was 54 years, 17 years above the Australian median. This has made the Tweed Heads region a prime location for retirement living, with 14 separate retirement villages. Australian born residents comprised 71.1 percent of people living in Tweed Heads followed by England 6 percent, New Zealand 4.5 percent, Scotland 1.1 percent, Philippines 0.9 percent and China 0.8 percent. Eighty-seven percent speak English as their first language, followed by 0.7 percent Mandarin, 0.6 percent Portuguese, 0.5 percent Tagalog, 0.3 percent Italian and 0.3 percent Spanish.

According to the 2011 census, the religious groups in Tweed Heads by size were Catholic 26.9%, Anglican 24.4%, No Religion 17.9%, Presbyterian and Reformed 5.4% and Uniting Church 4.7%.

Composition of the Tweed Heads urban area Population by Statistical Local Area [1].

Composition of the Tweed Heads urban area Population by Statistical Local Area [2].

Retirement Living

Below are a list of retirement villages and retirement living facilities in the Tweed Region:

Sport and recreation

Due to its close proximity, Tweed Heads sports teams often compete in Gold Coast/Queensland-based competitions. Tweed Heads was once home to several iterations of professional rugby league clubs in the New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) competition between 1988-1995. The Gold Coast-Tweed Giants were established in 1988 and based out of the Tweed Heads Seagulls premises in west Tweed Heads. The Seagulls ran a very successful social club that turned large profits due to poker machines and by 1990 the club had acquired the Giants' NSWRL licence and rebranded the team to become the Gold Coast Seagulls, despite remaining based in Tweed Heads. The team pulled off its biggest coup in 1990 when it signed future Rugby League Immortal Wally Lewis. After years of poor on field results and low attendances, the Seagulls sold their NSWRL licence to businessman Jeff Muller who moved the team to Carrara on the Gold Coast.

The Seagulls returned to the Group 18 Rugby League competition in 1996 and were granted entry into the Queensland Cup in 2003. Australian rules football was brought to the area in 1962 when the Coolangatta Tweed Heads Australian Football Club. It was intended to represent the twin towns of Coolangatta and Tweed Heads and competed in the Gold Coast Australian Football League competition. In 1984 the Northern Rivers region established the Summerland Australian Football League that later included the Tweed Coast Football Club. The league was amalgamated into Queensland Australian Football League as its own division in 2012.

Despite not being based inside Queensland, the area acts as a feeder zone for both the Gold Coast Titans in the National Rugby League and the Gold Coast Suns in the Australian Football League. Tweed United is a soccer Club based in the area that competes in the Football Gold Coast competition plus the Coolangatta Tweed Barbarians who compete in the Gold Coast and District Rugby Union. Other sports facilities in the area include Tweed Heads Bowls Club, Tweed Heads Rowing Club, Tweed Valley Sailing Club and Tweed Heads & Coolangatta Surf Life Saving Club.

Notable people

The following is a list of notable people residents of or born in Tweed Heads: