Nerang

1. The site of the present township was called ‘Birribi’ after spirals of dead bark hanging from eucalypts (Hanlon, W.E  1935, John Oxley Journal 2/80). 

2. The site of the present township was called ‘Eejung’ meaning wet grassy flats (Gresty, J.A  1947, The Numinbah Valley, Its Geography History and Aboriginal associations. John Oxley Journal 2/80)

3.  After the Nerang River ‘neerang’ meaning ‘little’ or ‘shovel nosed shark’

All the early writers suggest that the river was named by Europeans after the local dialect word ‘ neerang’ meaning either ‘ little’ or ‘shovel-nosed shark’ (Meston, Archibald  1905, John Oxley Journal 2/80).

 To the local Aborigines the river was referred to as ‘Mogumbin’ or ‘Been-goor-abee’ (Meston Archibald 1923, John Oxley Journal 2/80).

 The Tweed tribes called the river ‘Talgai’ (Meston, Archibald  1898, John Oxley Journal 2/80)

Cotton & Sugar Plantations: The story of the   Nerang Township began  with the development of cotton and sugar plantations on the Nerang River at Carrara,  Bundall,  and Benowa. In 1865, after completing survey work at Benowa Plantation, Government Surveyor, Martin Lavelle,  selected a site for a  township on a slope overlooking the Nerang River.

Street Names: He named the first surveyed streets after planters such as Edmund Price or the pastoralist William Duckett White. By 1876, Nerang Township was a small postal township, with a school and hotel. The town served the needs of a rural population of  farmers and  timber workers and was a rail head for their produce and supplies after the town was linked to the railway in  1889.

Nerang Community: In the early  years,  Nerang  was an administrative centre for the region, with a courthouse, police station,  and meeting place for local councillors. Gradually, Southport assumed many of these roles and Nerang survived quietly as a picturesque centre of  the Hinterland. In the 1970s and 1980s, the Gold Coast’s population grew rapidly and many people made their homes in the new estates  which had expanded into the hinterland. Considerable commercial, service  and light industrial development  has grown around the town of Nerang. The former sleepy hamlet is once again a centre for a number of significant communities.

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