Download coordinates as: Coolangatta is a coastal suburb in the City of Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.

Once again focused on a steep headland at Point Danger the area was occupied by Europeans from at least 1828 by a convict station and red cedar getters soon followed.

Steele found the river entrance closed by silt forming a bar, so he anchored in the lee of Point Danger off Kirra Beach.

Eventually, the prisoners were freed and all hands abandoned ship and swam for shore as the anchors dragged.

The survivors walked 70 miles (110 km) north to Amity Point in six days, fed each night by different groups of friendly indigenous Australians, and were taken into Brisbane on board the Tamar.

[9][10] The railway guaranteed the success of Coolangatta as a holiday township and it flourished from that time forward.

The Tweed Heads Surf and Life Saving Club was established on Friday 26 January 1909.

[11] Tweed Heads and Coolangatta Surf Life Saving Club building opened on 13 September 1911.

[22] Previously on 28 June 1918 the Queensland Department of Public Instruction had indicated their intention to establish a school at Coolangatta but no progress had been made.

[24][25] Growth in the school over the decades subsequently led to its relocation to Stapylton Street, officially opening there on 26 November 1977.

The old school bell from Kirra Hill was relocated to the Stapylton Street where it remains in daily use.

[26] There was a stump-capping ceremony held for the Coolangatta Methodist Memorial Church on Sunday 8 June 1924.

[30][31] On Monday 31 April 1925 Archbishop James Duhig laid the foundation stone of St Augustine's Catholic Church.

[33] The church was built in a commanding position overlooking the Pacific Ocean in the Italian Romanesque style.

[34] St Augustine's Catholic School was established in 1926 by the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart.

The headland itself is an important landmark and tourist destination and is the site of the Point Danger Lighthouse.

Jack Evans Porpoise Pool which was built at Snapper Rocks in 1957[42][43] and Gilltraps Auto Museum which was established at Kirra in 1959.

The Council spent $3 million in restoration and refurbishment before officially opening the site as the Kirra Hill Cultural and Community Centre in October 2011.

[26] The Kirra Hill site is listed on the Gold Coast Local Heritage Register.

[49] Coolangatta and its immediate neighbouring "Twin Town" Tweed Heads in New South Wales have a shared economy.

The Tweed River supports a thriving fishing fleet, and the seafood is a local specialty offered in the restaurants and clubs of the holiday and retirement region on both sides of the state border.

[53] It was widely believed to be named by Lieutenant James Cook on his 1770 exploration of the eastern Australia coastline in HMS Endeavour, but this is only partially correct.

However a map published in 1831 based on the 1828 survey conducted on HMS Rainbow applied the name Point Danger to the headland north of the Tweed River.

It was originally called Shark/Sharks Bay until 1926 when the Coolangatta Town Council decided to rename it after HMS Rainbow, a sixth-rate frigate, commanded by Captain Henry John Rous, used in surveys of the area in 1828.

The Coolangatta Tweed Barbarians compete in the Gold Coast and District Rugby Union.

The Coolangatta Surf Life Saving Club compete in the Winter Swimming Association of Australia Championships.

[102] Funded by 39 businesses, it is believed to be the first jingle written to promote an Australian tourist destination.