Tweed Heads is a town located on the Tweed River in north-eastern New South Wales, Australia, in Tweed Shire. Tweed Heads is located next to the border with Queensland, adjacent to the "Twin Town" of Coolangatta, a suburb of the Gold Coast. It is often referred to as a town where you can change time zones â€" even celebrate New Year twice within an hour â€" simply by crossing the street, due to its proximity to the Queensland border, and the fact that New South Wales observes daylight saving whereas Queensland does not.
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
The town receives channels from Metropolitan Brisbane and Regional Northern New South Wales. Brisbane Metro Channels are Seven Brisbane BTQ, Nine Brisbane QTQ, and Ten Brisbane TVQ. The Northern NSW Regional Channels are Prime7, NBN and Southern Cross Ten.
Demographics
In the 2011 Census the population of Tweed Heads was 7,525 made up of 52.8 percent female and 47.2 percent male. The median/average age of the population was 54 years, 17 years above the Australian average. 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 are; Anglican (26.5%), Roman Catholic (24.2%), Uniting Church (4.2%), Buddhism (1.6%) and Pentecostal (0.7%). Tweed Heads offers several churches including the Elevation Church, Vibe Church and Tweed Coolangatta Church of Christ.
Sport and recreation
A number of well-known sporting teams represent the local area. One of them is the well known NRL club named the Gold Coast Titans and the Queensland Cup team Tweed Heads Seagulls Tweed Heads two Australian rules football team's Tweed Coast Football Club and Coolangatta Tweed Heads Australian Football Club with the Tweed United as the Soccer Club plus Coolangatta-Tweed Barbarians Rugby Union Club, 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:
- Samantha Harris, fashion model
- Wayne Bartholomew, world champion surfer
- Cheyse Blair, rugby league player
- Trevor Butler, Big Brother Australia Winner 2004
- Larry Corowa, former Australian rugby league international
- Brad Davis, former rugby league player
- Mick Fanning, world champion surfer
- Sam Gilbert, Australian rules footballer
- Stephanie Gilmore, world champion surfer
- Michael Gordon, rugby league player
- David Hale, Australian rules footballer
- Daniel Holdsworth, rugby league player
- Ryan James, rugby league player
- Josh Kerr, surfer
- Kayne Lawton, rugby league player
- Tom Learoyd-Lahrs, Australian rugby league international
- Marc Lock, Australian rules footballer
- Lionel Morgan, former Australian rugby league international
- Barry Muir, former Australian rugby league international
- Luke O'Dwyer, rugby league player
- Mark Occhilupo, world champion surfer
- Joel Parkinson, world champion surfer
- Tony Rampling, former rugby league player
- Kieran Ricketts, journalist, broadcaster and filmmaker
- James Roberts, Australian Olympic swimmer
- Matt Seers, former rugby league player
See also
- Tweed City bus station
- Tweed Heads bus station
References
External links
- Tweed Shire Council