Lifeguard facts and history

City of Gold Coast employs the largest professional lifeguard service in Australia, which is responsible for the surveillance of the region's 60 kilometre coastal strip.
The City's lifeguard service has thirty-seven (39) permanent staff and 140 seasonal staff (mostly from the ranks of Surf Life Saving Association volunteers).
The lifeguards patrol 26 beaches year round and 42 beaches during the holiday season.
The first professional lifeguard was employed in 1935 at Main Beach by the City Council.
The Chief Lifeguard, Warren Young, was appointed in 1975 after commencing work as a lifeguard at Burleigh in 1973.
The lifeguard service has a Beach Safety Education Program for local primary schools and English language students. Larry the Lifeguard is the mascot for the lifeguard service.
The lifeguard service was the first in Australia to adopt a formal surveillance tower plan along the coastal strip, initiated in 1989.
The service pioneered the use of jet skis in Australia and was the first lifeguard service to have staff trained in the use of defibrillators.
The service was the first in Australia to be approved as a quality endorsed company, awarded the five ticks Quality System certificate in April 2002.

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