Upper Coomera

Upper Coomera, a residential suburb on the Gold Coast, is immediately west of Coomera and 52 km south-east of central Brisbane. It is bordered on the east and south by the Pacific Highway (now the Pacific Motorway) and the Coomera River respectively.

The Coomera River rises in the Lamington Plateau and flows through Upper Coomera before entering a coastal flood plain. Upper Coomera was a place where timber could be taken and the lower reaches farmed. An early remnant of Upper Coomera's rural beginning is the cemetery near the Tambourine-Oxenford Road; burials date from the late 1880s. The South Coast railway (1889) passed through Coomera, about five km to the east. Sugar and maize were grown during the 1870s-80s, but dairying became the main rural industry as sugar growing moved to north Queensland. In 1949 over half the farmers were recorded as being in dairying, with only a few shown as banana and fruit growers. There were still three who grew and milled arrowroot. The village had a primary school, the Upper Coomera Hotel, a store and a sawmill.

During the early 1980s there were rural/residential subdivisions between Old Coach Road and the Pacific Motorway, and a pocket of smaller allotments east of the cemetery. Significant residential growth came in the 1990s, moving west from the Pacific Motorway opposite Dreamworld theme park. Five schools have been opened in Upper Coomera: St Stephens College, opened in 1996 and with over 1,000 P-12 students; Coomera Anglican College, opened in 1997 and with 620 P-12 students; Upper Coomera State P-12 College (2003); Assisi Catholic P-12 College (2006) and Coomera Springs State primary school (2008) on the site of a former Kart Club circuit.

A short distance from the Coomera Springs school in Old Coach Road there is Coomera City central shopping centre (2008).

Upper Coomera's northern boundary is rural Pimpama and its southern boundary is Oxenford, a distance of 10 km. Its east-west distance averages about 4 km. Considerable space remained unsubdivided in 2008. In addition to the Coomera City Central Shopping Centre, there are smaller centres near the schools, and the Upper Coomera Village is on Tamborine Oxenford Road in the south. A school of arts hall is near the Village shopping centre.

In 2014 the State Government agreed to move all of Riverstone Crossing estate, half of which was in Upper Coomera, into the postcode for semi-rural Maudsland. The estate was divided by the Coomera River. The move included about 600 residents.

Upper Coomera's census populations have been: