History of Robina

Aurthur Earle arrived at the Gold Coast in 1964, where he purchased around 3000 acres of land located between Nerang and Mudgeeraba and began dozing a track through the middle of his land. The track eventually became a busy road. It was then linked up with the cuttings of the old railway line to form part of today's Pacific Highway line. Meanwhile developers were slowly dredging and reshaping land in the lowlying areas along the Nerang River. they were creating canal estates where many housing allotments included much sought after water frontage.

At this stage, the future site of Robina was still untouched - a wilderness of lagoons, paper barks and casuarina. The "Great Swamp", was largely unexploited except as a place for grazing cattle int he dry season. It was difficult landscape for development and it had withstood many attempts by investors to reshape or transform it into a profitable asset. (Council of the City of Gold Coast, 2016)

In December 1980, Aurthur Earle and Singapore developer, Robin Loh purchased the 1658 hectare site for A$11.2 million from the liquidators of the Cambridge Credit Company. The name Robina had been used by Robin Loh for a number of projects in South East Asia but eventually in Australia, Robina was associated with the business partnership of Aurthur Earle and Robina Loh. The companywas incorpoated and was given the name Robina Land Corporation and was managed by their Chief Executive, Rob Hill. (Council of the City of Gold Coast, 2016)

In 1981, the first stage of housing blocks were on the market. Neighbouring farm proporties were purchased and the land holding was enlarged to over 1850 hectares and Robina became Australia's largest privately owned master planned residential community. (Council of the City of Gold Coast, 2016)

In 1982, flood prone ares were built up from fill whoch was dug from artificial lakes. the first of a series of fresh water lakes, Lake Hugh Muntz, covering an area of 17 heactares was complete. Despite the use of massive Earth moving equipment and what seemed to be bottomless amounts of investment capital, the project was still shaped by the land's location on a flood plain. (Council of the City of Gold Coast, 2016)

The Robina Town Centre was opened in 1996 and a community with the services of schools, hospital, rail link, police and fire stations has become a reality. (Council of the City of Gold Coast, 2016)

Robina is also home to one of the two public hospitals on the Gold Coast. The Robina Hospital was originally a private hospital and was purchased by Queensland Health in 2002. (Wikipedia, 2016)

An Emergency Department was built in 2007 and a larger expansion opened in 2011 doubling the size of the hospital to 364 beds, making it the sixth largest in Queensland. The new development includes clinical teaching facilities for Bond University. (Wikipedia, 2016)

Robina Town Centre is the location for Robina Stadium, which was completed in early 2008. The stadium has a seating capacity of over 27,000, and is rectangular, meeting the requirements of rugby league, football and rugby union. (Wikipedia, 2016)

In 2012, Gold Coast City Council released a draft of its 2031 Transport Strategy which outlined future extensions of the Gold Coast Rapid Transit system.

The Robina Health Precinct, which also opened in 2012, is located on a nearby site to the Robina Hospital and houses community and sub-acute services. Ongoing development of health services in Robina has seen the creation of a healthcare hub in the suburb, with the Robina Health Precinct, Robina Hospital and additional community health services located at the Campus Alpha building all located within 350 metres of each other. (Wikipedia, 2016)

2015, a new mall opened adjacent to Market Hall with a 4,200 square metre Super Coles Store and an additional 1,500 square metres of retail space. Stage 2B of Market Hall (The Kitchens) is currently under construction and is planned to incorporate 55 new retailers and is set to be completed by late 2016