The Robina Local

Robina is a master-planned suburb in the City of Gold Coast, Queensland. It sits 9.8 km south-south-west of Surfers Paradise, 12.2 km from Southport and 84.4 km south-south-east of the Brisbane CBD. The suburb covers 15.0 square kilometres and uses postcode 4226, with 4230 reserved for Robina Town Centre.

How Robina began

In 1980, Singaporean developer Robin Loh and local developer Arthur Earle bought 20 square kilometres of grazing land west of Broadbeach. Urban designers Moshe Safdie and Robert Lamb Hart were engaged, and Loh formed the Robina Land Corporation to carry out the project. The name joins Robin with an “a” for Arthur, and it was gazetted on 11 May 1985. Kerrydale was approved as a separate suburb in 1989, then merged into Robina under a 1992 law, with the boundaries extended on 19 May 1995.

Robina by the numbers

The 2021 Census counted 25,659 people in Robina, up from 23,106 in 2016. Women made up 52.9% of residents and men 47.1%. The median age was 39. There were 7,163 families and 10,180 private dwellings, with an average of 2.6 people per household. Median weekly household income was $1,758, median monthly mortgage repayments were $2,000 and median weekly rent was $540.

Australia was the birthplace of 62.4% of residents, followed by New Zealand (6.7%), England (6.0%), China (2.9%) and South Africa (1.9%). English was the only language spoken at home by 78.8% of people. Mandarin (3.7%) and Japanese (1.6%) were the next most common. Professionals were the largest occupation group at 23.6%.

Getting around and going out

Robina railway station opened on 31 May 1998 and was the end of the Gold Coast line until the extension to Varsity Lakes in December 2009. Kinetic Gold Coast runs eight bus routes from the station. Next door, Cbus Super Stadium opened in February 2008 at a cost of A$160 million. It holds 27,690 people, is home to the Gold Coast Titans and hosted rugby sevens at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Study, health and everyday life

Bond University, established in 1987 as Australia’s first private not-for-profit university, has its campus at 14 University Drive and had about 5,707 students in 2023. Robina Hospital is part of Gold Coast Health. Local schools include Robina State School, opened in January 1990, Robina State High School on Investigator Drive, opened in January 1996, and Arcadia College. Robina Town Centre anchors local shopping. Robina Library, on Robina Town Centre Drive, opened in 2000 and was refurbished in 2013. The Glades Golf Club offers a par-72 course designed by Greg Norman.

Population and household figures are from the ABS 2021 Census QuickStats for Robina, Suburbs and Localities boundary.