Individual Member Statement – Burleigh Heads Mowbray Park SLSC

18 Oct 2013 10:34 AMMichael Hart

Mr HART (Burleigh—LNP) (2.38 am): It gives me a great deal of pleasure to rise tonight and advise those present that in three or four minutes we can all go to our various abodes and try to get three or four hours sleep before our day commences again. I know that my staff have scheduled me for a 6.30 info booth at Goodwin Terrace on The Esplanade in Burleigh. I would like to advise those thousands of Burleigh residents watching the live telecast tonight that there is a chance that I may not be there at 6.30.

A very important event happened in my electorate on 5 September, and I was very pleased to attend the Burleigh Heads Mowbray Park surf-lifesaving club for their 90th anniversary celebration. I was asked by the president Michael Boyce to address the members for a short period of time about their history and the club in general, and it was a wonderful day with hundreds of people there. I learned a few things about Burleigh when I was looking at the history of the surf club. It is interesting to note that in 1871 Burleigh actually had 65 surveyed allotments that were put up for auction. Those allotments went for the wonderful amount of 2 pounds. The first cottage was erected in Burleigh in 1885. By the Christmas holidays of 1912 there was reported to be hundreds of people in tents enjoying themselves on the beaches in Burleigh over that Christmas period. By 1918 there was in fact an advertisement placed seeking lifesavers. That advertisement apparently read—

‘competent men to patrol various beaches during Christmas holidays. Applicants must hold award of the Society. £3 allowed for expenses, and fare paid each way. Tent also provided.’

Around 1922-23 the club was actually formed by a group of people from Nerang, and they took care of the club until the Mowbray Park swimming club came down from Brisbane and they actually got that club together. They would drive down on the weekend and they would have to cross two rivers to get there, the Logan River and the Coomera River, and it would take them four hours each way to drive down, spend the weekend protecting those people swimming on the beaches, enjoying themselves over the breaks, and then spend four hours driving back. That is how dedicated these lifesavers are, and nothing has changed at Burleigh. There have been 1100-odd volunteers over the years. They are still doing a fantastic job, and I praise them for the work that they do —

View the footage here