Upper Coomera, Queensland

Upper Coomera is a suburb in the City of Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.[2] Upper Coomera and Coomera have long been the main centre of urban development on the Gold Coast and are considered to be, along with Southport and Robina, one of the Gold Coast's three urban centres. Upper Coomera is a heavily suburbanised suburb consisting of many large residential developments and commercial centres. Despite already being heavily developed and having a large population, Upper Coomera is predicted by both the Queensland Government and Gold Coast City Council to grow and develop at an exponential rate well into the next decade. Upper Coomera is a popular place of residence for dual-city commuters as it is placed roughly halfway between the central commercial districts of Southport and Beenleigh and within reasonable travelling distance to Brisbane CBD.

Upper Coomera
City of Gold Coast, Queensland
An aerial shot of Coomera and Upper Coomera looking towards Moreton Bay and the Pacific Ocean
Upper Coomera
Coordinates27.8786°S 153.2861°E / -27.8786; 153.2861
Population25,276 (2016 census)[1]
 • Density932.7/km2 (2,416/sq mi)
Established1900s
Postcode(s)4209
Area27.1 km2 (10.5 sq mi)
Location
  • 25 km (16 mi) from Surfers Paradise
  • 54 km (34 mi) from Brisbane
LGA(s)City of Gold Coast
Division of Coomera and Helensvale
State electorate(s)
Federal Division(s)Forde
Suburbs around Upper Coomera:
Willow Vale Pimpama Coomera
Wongawallan Upper Coomera Coomera
Maudsland Oxenford Helensvale

Geography

Upper Coomera is located on the northern side of the Gold Coast on the western side of the M1 Pacific Motorway. It borders Willow Vale in the north, the Coomera River on the south which separates it from Oxenford and the Pacific Highway on the east which separates it from Coomera.

History

The name Coomera comes from the Yugambeh word kumera, a species of wattle.[3]

Upper Coomera War Memorial

The Coomera River was used by early timber-getters to reach the hinterland. In 1865 the Binstead family settled in Upper Coomera near a ford in the river that later formed part of a mail run. A ferry service was set up downstream which later became known as Coomera.[4] The first bridge across the Coomera river was built in the 1930s.[4] The Upper Coomera Cemetery was first surveyed in 1871 and it opened in 1885, but it was not until 3 years later that someone was buried there.[5]

The Upper Coomera Shire War Memorial is on the corner of Oxenford and Tamborine Road and was unveiled on 18 May 1918. The memorial originally only honoured those from the district who fell in World War I; however, the names of those who perished during World War II were added later.[6] The inscriptions on the memorial read:[7]

"This memorial was erected by the residents, in honour of the brave lads of the Coomera district who fell in the Great War 1914-19. They gave their all. Let you who pass, saluting here their names,See that through you no slur, nor stain, nor shame Falls on the land for which they gave their lives - AUSTRALIA."

Coomera Upper Provisional School opened on 23 October 1876. On 15 July 1878 it became Coomera Upper State School. It closed in 1964.[8]

Fern Hill State School opened on 1910 and closed on 24 March 1914.[8]

Saint Stephen's College opened on 1996.[8]

Coomera Anglican College was established on 27 January 1997 by the Anglican Diocese of Brisbane.[8]

Upper Coomera State College opened on 1 January 2003.[8]

Assisi Catholic College opened on 25 January 2005.[8]

Education

State primary schools

State secondary schools

Private schools
  • Coomera Anglican College is a private primary and secondary (P-12) school for boys and girls at 8 Days Road (27.8584°S 153.3055°E / -27.8584; 153.3055 (Coomera Anglican College)).[14][17] In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 1407 students with 92 teachers (88 full-time equivalent) and 61 non-teaching staff (57 full-time equivalent).[16] It also offers child care on the same campus.[18] It has a 2,500-square-metre (27,000 sq ft) sports centre, which includes two full size netball courts as well as a full commercial gym operated by Coomera Focus on Fitness and available for use by the local community. The current principal is Mark D Sly.

In addition to local schools, the southern parts of the suburb lie within the catchment area of Gaven State School (P-6) and Pacific Pines State High School[19] (7-12) in the neighbouring suburb of Pacific Pines.

Community
Upper Coomera School of Arts, 2015
Upper Coomera Library

The Upper Coomera Community Centre is located on Reserve Road and contains the office of Councillor Donna Gates, Customer Service Office, Aquatic Centre, and Upper Coomera Branch Library. The community centre opened on 14 June 2013.[20] The Upper Coomera Branch Library opened in April 2013 and is the newest branch of the Gold Coast libraries.[21]

The Upper Coomera School of Arts was established in 1896. It is used for public meetings and other community purposes.[22]

According to the 2016 census, Upper Coomera includes the largest communities of both New Zealand Australians (894 people; 3.5%) and Māori Australians (1,549 people; 4.3%) of any suburb in Queensland.[23][24]

Shopping

Upper Coomera has several shopping venues, the main ones being Coomera City Centre, Coomera Grand Shopping Centre and The Hub at the junction of Days Road and Old Coach Road. Together they consist of Woolworths and Aldi supermarkets, and various other stores. Also located throughout the suburb in smaller shopping villages are Coles supermarkets. Various fast food outlets exist in Upper Coomera including two McDonald's restaurants, Hungry Jack's, Pizza Hut, Subway, Nandos, KFC, Pizza Capers and Krispy Kreme Doughnuts.

Nearby major shopping centres include Westfield Coomera,Westfield Helensvale, Robina Town Centre, Pacific Fair Shopping Centre, Harbour Town Shopping Centre and Australia Fair Shopping Centre. The Westfield Coomera shopping centre in the neighbouring suburb of Coomera is a new addition to the local area.[25]

Entertainment

Upper Coomera has a number of hotels, cafes and restaurants, catering to families.

Public transport

Upper Coomera is well serviced by a variety of bus routes provided by Surfside Bus Lines and operated by Translink. There is also a train station on Foxwell Road in the neighbouring suburb of Coomera.

gollark: Hmm, 246 lines now.
gollark: It's quite good, it even has dependency graph resolution.
gollark: osmarksßßstaticsitegenerator™, a 200-line uncommented Node.js script.
gollark: Via "templating language" technology.
gollark: I just use a static site generator for "code reuse" purposes.

See also

References
  1. Australian Bureau of Statistics (27 June 2017). "Upper Coomera (State Suburb)". 2016 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
  2. "Upper Coomera - suburb in City of Gold Coast (entry 49320)". Queensland Place Names. Queensland Government. Retrieved 29 December 2017.
  3. "Indigenous Language Resources: South-East Qld Placenames" (PDF). State Library of Queensland. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 August 2016. Retrieved 7 July 2016.
  4. "Coomera history". Gold Coast City Council. Archived from the original on 20 September 2016. Retrieved 13 March 2017.
  5. "Upper Coomera cemetery, Gold Coast". www.chapelhill.homeip.net. Archived from the original on 15 June 2016. Retrieved 13 March 2017.
  6. "Upper Coomera War Memorial". Monument Australia. Archived from the original on 13 March 2017. Retrieved 13 March 2017.
  7. "Upper Coomera Shire War Memorial (Digger)". Queensland War Memorial Register. Archived from the original on 13 March 2017. Retrieved 13 March 2017.
  8. Queensland Family History Society (2010), Queensland schools past and present (Version 1.01 ed.), Queensland Family History Society, ISBN 978-1-921171-26-0
  9. "Upper Coomera State College". Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
  10. "Coomera Springs SS". Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
  11. "Highland Reserve SS". Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
  12. "Opening and closing dates of Queensland Schools". Queensland Government. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
  13. "Assisi College". Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
  14. "State and non-state school details". Queensland Government. 9 July 2018. Archived from the original on 21 November 2018. Retrieved 21 November 2018.
  15. "Saint Stephen's College". Retrieved 21 November 2018.
  16. "ACARA School Profile 2017". Archived from the original on 22 November 2018. Retrieved 22 November 2018.
  17. "Coomera Anglican College". Retrieved 21 November 2018.
  18. Coomera Anglican College
  19. "Pacific Pines SHS". Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
  20. "Upper Coomera Centre". Gold Coast City Council. Retrieved 13 March 2017.
  21. "Public Libraries Statistical Bulletin 2016-17" (PDF). Public Libraries Connect. State Library of Queensland. November 2017. p. 13. Archived (PDF) from the original on 30 January 2018. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  22. "Upper Coomera". Queensland Places. Centre for the Government of Queensland, University of Queensland. Archived from the original on 16 March 2015. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
  23. "2016Census_G_QLD_SSC - Census DataPacks - General Community Profile". Australian Bureau of Statistics – Census 2016. Archived from the original on 29 July 2017. Retrieved 18 July 2017.
  24. Australian Bureau of Statistics (27 June 2017). "Upper Coomera (State Suburb)". 2016 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 18 July 2017.
  25. "Westfield Coomera Town Centre Site Taking Shape". ALLROADS. Archived from the original on 13 June 2017. Retrieved 7 June 2017.

Further reading
  • Coghill, Gloria A; Coomera State School (1998). 125 Years of schooling on the Coomera 1873-1998. G. Coghill. ISBN 978-0-646-35838-3.—includes Coomera Upper State School and Fern Hill State School
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