Springbrook

Springbrook is a mountain and plateau in the Gold Coast hinterland of South East Queensland, Australia.

Springbrook is a mountain and plateau in the Gold Coast hinterland of South East Queensland, Australia. It is also the name of the associated rural town and locality within the City of Gold Coast. In the 2016 census, the locality of Springbrook had a population of 659 people.The locality borders New South Wales.

Springbrook was originally known as the Numinbah Plateau.The timbered plateau was settled relatively late with both the area's inaccessibility and timber reserve status acting as deterrents. In 1906, the area ceased to be a timber reserve and was opened for agricultural settlement.In the same year the first group of settlers, including James Hardy, arrived from northern New South Wales and referred to the new settlement as Springwood. However it was changed to Springbrook to avoid confusion with mail deliveries to another Springwood located in the Blue Mountains. Following the request of postal officials to change the name to avoid confusion with another location in New South Wales, the area became known as Springbrook.Dairying was encouraged but the settlers found farming difficult and instead cleared for the land for timber. By the 1930s Springbrook was almost completely cleared of trees.Springbrook State School opened on 25 April 1911. It closed in 1971. It reopened on 23 January 1984 in a new building.Tourism has been the major industry since the 1920s, with many guesthouses opening during this period.A decent road up the mountain was built in the mid 1920s with the first car reaching the settlement in June 1926.Wunburra State School opened circa 1935 after relocating the then-closed Bonogin Creek State School building. Wunburra State School closed circa 1942.The first declaration of a national park on the plateau was Warrie National Park in 1937.By 1947 a community hall had been built.The post office was closed in 1958.A memorial to the pioneering settlers of the area was built in 1961 to celebrate 50 years since opening of the former Springbrook State School.In the 2016 census the locality of Springbrook had a population of 659 people.

Due to its close proximity to the coast, the high elevations and subtropical latitude, Springbrook has a wet climate with mild temperatures.Rainfall at the now closed Upper Springbrook BOM rainfall station averaged 3109 mm annually over 90 years. Springbrook is the only place in subtropical Australia to exceed 3000 mm average rainfall making it probably the wettest place between Townsville and Tasmania.

Exceptionally rainy periods have been recorded in some wet years including; 900 mm of rainfall recorded in a 24-hour period before an unnamed cyclone crossed the coast at Coolangatta on 20 February 1954.

During a remarkable rainy period, Springbrook received 1,631 millimetres (64.2 in) in the month of June 1967. In January 2013, 1,453 millimetres (57.2 in) of rain fell over a period of just 4 days, due to the remnants of Tropical Cyclone Oswald. In March 2017, 1,407 millimetres (55.4 in) of rain fell in part due to Cyclone Debbie, 789 millimetres (31.1 in) of which was recorded at Upper Springbrook on 31 March 2017, causing enough damage to cut off the two access routes into Springbrook and leaving many residents without electricity.