Miami

Miami, a suburb on the Gold Coast, is immediately north of Burleigh Heads. Its beach runs from North Nobby Hill ('Magic Mountain') to North Burleigh Beach. It was named after the Miami Hotel (1925) which in pre-war directories was listed as being in Burleigh Heads.

In the 1920s the Miami Shore estate, North Burleigh, was put up for sale. Houses were timber and fibro cottages, generally a step up from the camping reserve at Burleigh Heads. The land behind the foreshore was mostly wetland, which was modified in the 1930s by drainage works and land reclamation. During World War II there was a large military camp near Miami, and recycled army huts were used for the Miami ice works. The Post Office directory in 1949, in addition to mentioning the ice works, listed two motor garages, a storekeeper and the Miami Hotel.

The land works of the 1930s provided postwar housing subdivisions, without any scope for canal estates. There was substantial building activity by the 1960s, and the district's high school was opened in 1963 on a site adjoining North Nobby Hill. Miami High's most well known former student is Anna Bligh, Queensland Premier 2007-12. Houses continued in the modest prewar scale, brightened up with modern lines and a new coat of paint. The Burleigh Heads golf course (1955) and Nobby Beach were the prime natural attractions, and a chair lift (1962) took visitors up to a cafeteria on North Nobby Hill. A Magic Castle was added to the hill, and in 1983 the five acre site was intensively developed as the Magic Mountain theme park, with a combination of 'thrill rides', the Magic Theatre and a playground. It was the Gold Coast's most visually striking tourist attraction, but was later replaced by holiday apartments.

Much of Miami's housing was ripe for redevelopment by the 1990s, including some of the brick and tile places west of the Gold Coast Highway. Substantial work was underway by 2003, including new shops along the highway. In 2001 a little over one third of dwellings were units, detached houses were about the same proportion, and town houses about one quarter of total dwellings.

Residents have a choice of the beach or the Gold Coast Burleigh golf course with the adjoining Pizzey Park which has a walking trail and a lake. There are the Miami and Nobby's Beach surf life-saving clubs and three local swimming clubs.

Miami's census populations have been: