Robina, a Gold Coast suburb begun in the 1980s, is six km north-west of Burleigh Heads and 75 km from central Brisbane.

The land on which Robina was established was mostly swampy dairying country, acquired for $4 an acre in 1965 by Arthur Earle, a Charleville grazier. Earle improved several parcels of land around Nerang for grazing, but saw the development prospects as the canal estates near the coast filled up. Earle entered into partnership with Robin Loh, a Singapore developer, to create a township of about 1660 ha, projected to house 35,000 residents.

The area was without a railway line, the one from Nerang to Coolangatta having been closed in 1961, with a further closure back from Nerang to Beenleigh in 1964. By 1985 the Queensland Government indicated its intention to build a replacement railway line to the proposed new town, for by then the surrounding area (Albert Shire) was one of the fastest growing regions in Australia.

A large residential area around three lakes - Robina Waters, Lake Orr and West Lake - was created in the eastern sector, although most of Lake Orr has Bond University (1989) on its shoreline. This sector includes a local shopping centre, a primary school, three churches and a bowling club. Most of the public open space is occupied by the Robina Woods golf course. The western sector includes Robina Town Centre, the railway station (1997), Robina High School (1996), Gold Coast Hospital (2000) and a regional drive-in shopping centre (1996) which has a department store, several discount department stores and over 200 other shops. There is also the Glades golf course which encloses extensive longitudinal lakes, west of Mudgeeraba Creek.

To the north of the town centre and extending to the suburb of Clear Island Waters, Robina has a fully developed residential area around West Lake. It includes the Colonial Golf Course (with small lakes), Robina Village shopping centre and an opening to the Robina Waters Lake.

Robina's census populations have been:

Census DatePopulation
19863119
19918030
200117,109
200619,182
201120,522
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