Johan Meyer

Johan Meyer arrived in Australia from Germany around 1854 on the Aurora which was shipwrecked on Moreton Island.

In 1858 he married the youngest daughter of Richard Pearson of Armidale, New South Wales before returning to Brisbane with his family to continue work as a builder and contractor and also entering the hotel trade.

On learning that Johan Meyer was looking for land, he offered to sell the eighty acres he held on the Nerang River three miles from Southport.

In 1888, Meyer's family operated a coach service from Southport three times a week, that crossed the river at the ferry, taking passengers down to the main surf beach.

His Main Beach Hotel became a postal receiving office in 1889 which was officially called Elston (later renamed Surfers Paradise).