SURF CAM
COMING SOON
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1923
Watching over Burleigh
In 1923, the Burleigh Heads Mowbray Park Surf Life Saving Club was formally founded. For more than a century, volunteer lifesavers have watched over this stretch of coastline. The equipment may have changed, but the purpose hasn't.
1930 and beyond
Built for the surf
Surf lifesaving at Burleigh was never only about standing watch. In 1930, a Burleigh team represented Queensland at the Australian Championships at Bondi, part of a record that includes hundreds of State and National titles.
1977
The Stubbies
In March 1977, local surfer Peter Drouyn brought a radical idea to Burleigh Point. Two surfers. One heat. Head to head. Michael Peterson took the first Stubbies title, and Drouyn's man-on-man format became the standard for professional surfing worldwide.
The proving ground
Burleigh doesn't hand out waves. The paddle's brutal, the rip's real, and that's exactly why it's forged world champions like Peter Townend and Wayne "Rabbit" Bartholomew.
1987 – 2018
The Pavilion
The original Pavilion went up in 1987. In 2018, a ground-up rebuild reimagined it as The Pavilion, the Beach Bar and The Tropic. Same patch of sand. Same endless view.
1997 – now
Single Fin Festival
Every January, the clocks wind back. Started by the Burleigh Boardriders in 1997, the Single Fin Festival puts some of the world's best on 40-year-old boards and lets pure style do the talking.
2010s – now
The world keeps coming back
Professional surfing never really left Burleigh. The Breaka Burleigh Pro brought elite competition back to the point from 2010, and the Gold Coast Open carries it on today. Nearly half a century after the first Stubbies, the world's best are still paddling out.
2012
A wave worth protecting
In 2012, Burleigh Heads was declared a National Surfing Reserve. Proof, if any were needed, that this stretch of coast is something to look after, for good.
2016
World Surfing Reserve
In 2016, the Gold Coast World Surfing Reserve was formally dedicated, stretching from Burleigh Heads south to Coolangatta. Burleigh had long been one of surfing's great addresses. Now the world had made it official.