Download coordinates as: Pimpama (/ˌpɪmpəˈmɑː/ PIM-pə-MAH) is a northern suburb in the City of Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.

More recently the suburb has experienced high rates of housing development due to the availability of land and proximity to the motorway.

[4] The Pimpama River marks the northern boundary of the suburb, which flows from the Darlington Range at Kingsholme down to Moreton Bay.

[citation needed] In the 1860s, farmers along the Pimpama River experimented firstly with cotton growing, then with sugar, both of which initially were dependent on South Pacific Islands labour.

[6] It appears that they were Residents in Brisbane until November 1869 at least, but had moved to the Pimpama district by August 1870, when William Doherty signed a local petition calling for a provisional school to be established in the area.

[7] In October 1874, Doherty selected portion 21, parish of Pimpama (158 acres (0.64 km2) of second class pastoral land on Hotham Creek, on which Laurel Hill Farmhouse was later built).

The block already contained some improvements, including a slab barn and a small humpy, and about 12 acres (49,000 m2) of scrub cleared and partly under cultivation, for which Doherty paid £20, and was issued with a conditional lease on the property for 10 years from 1 January 1875.

[7] Laurel Hill Farmhouse, a single-storeyed timber farm house with attic, was erected in 1883-84 for Pimpama arrowroot grower and manufacturer, William Doherty.

[10] By 1908, Queensland farmers on about a dozen farms in the Yatala, Pimpama, Ormeau and Nerang districts, were supplying almost the whole of the arrowroot used in Australia.

The Willowvale arrowroot mill was moved further downstream on Hotham Creek, closer to the Pacific Highway at Pimpama, and continued production until the mid-1930s.

[citation needed] The Doherty family were prominent members of the local community, involved in church and civic affairs.

William Doherty was a trustee of Pimpama School of Arts and served as a councillor on Coomera Divisional Board from c1887 to c1889.

There is evidence of minor re-arrangement of internal partition walls, and the staircase to the attic has been removed and the stairwell enclosed, possibly in the 1920s.

[14] Pimpama came to prominence on 12 October 2020 when Shane Bowden, the former Olympic cyclist and Mongols Motorcycle Club bikie, was shot dead in the driveway of his family home.

Some employment was offered by a large sawmill and hardware business, and by the ambulance training station serving the Pacific Motorway.

The owners of the general store, Jenny Houston and her son Robert, had enlarged the property to include a bar and a small restaurant.

[citation needed] Extensive and intensive urban development came to Pimpama in the first decade of the 21st century, as a result of planning that had started ten years earlier.

In 1995, the City of Gold Coast Council (GCCC) and the Queensland Government collaborated in staging "The Coomera Charrette Planning Study".

[21] Participants included local residents and landowners; clubs and associations; land developers; state and federal officials representing road and railway authorities; GCCC personnel involved in planning, sewerage, water, traffic and so on, and many others.

The intention was that this diverse group would be put into a ‘pressure cooker’ environment for a week, charged with coming up with overall concept plans for further consideration by the various authorities.

[21] The GCCC Local Area Plans that flowed eventually from the Charrette - pretty closely following its recommendations - comprised one of the largest re-zonings in south-east Queensland, intended to house 66,000 people.

The Charrette leader was Professor Paul Murrain, a highly regarded English urban planning consultant[23] who was imported for the occasion and proved an inspirational speaker.

[21] Land developers (the word speculator is also applicable) moved in and a great many properties changed hands before any official rezoning took place, in many cases leading to the consolidation of large parcels.

One of the leading developers to emerge in Pimpama was Mirvac Ltd., who acquired a very large tract running along the northern side of Yawalpah Road practically for its entire length (at the time) including the Gainsborough Greens golf course and several farms.

The completion of Stage 1 late in 2008, with associated trunk sewers, signalled the launch of a spate of housing subdivisions.

[25] King's Christian College is a private primary and high school (Pre-Prep-9) that is one of 3 campuses, the other 2 being at Reedy Creek and Logan Village respectively.

[33] The suburb is serviced by Queensland Rail City network through Ormeau railway station, also located in Canowindra, and is bisected by the M1 Motorway.