Mermaid Beach

Mermaid Beach, a coastal suburb extending barely half a kilometre inland, is between Broadbeach and Miami on the Gold Coast. Named in 1946, the suburb's name came about from a survey party led by the New South Wales Surveyor-General, John Oxley, landing on the beach in the cutter Mermaid in 1824. A speculative land subdivision in 1890 was marketed as the Mermaid Beach Estate.

The oldest part of Mermaid Beach is its northern end along the beachfront Hedges Avenue. The avenue remains Mermaid Beach's best address, an absolute beachfront location overlooking a wide sandy stretch of surf. To the south is the Barrier Reef precinct, each street having a beach or reef name, and with three north-south thoroughfares. The beachfront Albatross Avenue shares a ringside position with Hedges Avenue.

Mermaid Beach has a community centre and QCWA hall, but does not share with its neighbours (Broadbeach and Miami) their role as a retreat for retirees. The median age of its residents in 2001 was 34 years, compared with over 40 for its neighbours. Group households were also slightly more numerous.

There are two surf life-saving clubs, Mermaid Beach and, at the south toward the Magic Mountain viewing point, Nobby's Beach. Local shopping is found just north of Magic Mountain (known as North Nobby or North Burleigh Hill, 146 feet high, before the 1960s theme park) and further north along the Gold Coast Highway. A bowling club is in Annette Kellerman Park, along with a playground and picnic facilities. The adjoining caravan park proved to be a valuable redevelopment site. In 2001 units comprised 61% of dwellings in Mermaid Beach, as well as Mermaid Waters to the immediate west. In 2012 urban renewal began with the demolition of derelict buildings on Seaview Avenue and the Gold Coast Highway following a fire, and the planned refurbishment of other structures.

Mermaid Beach's census populations have been: