Oxenford

Oxenford is a suburb in Gold Coast City, 12 km north-west of Southport and immediately south of the Coomera River. It was named after William Oxenford who took up a farm near the Coomera River in 1869. He had a reputation for experimental agriculture and was a councillor on the first Coomera divisional board (1879).

The South Coast railway was extended through Oxenford, from Beenleigh to Southport, in 1889, and the station was about 1.5 km south of the river. There was also a ferry on the river, and the Oxenford Hotel was on the south bank. By the 1930s a village had formed near the hotel, along with a Catholic church. The post office directory (1949) also recorded two bank agencies and two motor garages at Oxenford; a road bridge (1930) over the Coomera River had brought the motor-car age to Oxenford.

A later farmer of some influence at Oxenford was August Hinze, the father of Russell Hinze (1919-91) who was an influential shire councillor and State parliamentarian. The Hinze family also owned the Oxenford Hotel, and the family farm was one of the first sites in Oxenford to be subdivided for housing.

Oxenford's residential development began in the 1980s, moving south-west from the corner of the Pacific Highway and the Tamborine-Oxenford Road. Provision was included for a State primary school (1987), and for a broad-acre development further south for tourist attractions. In 1991 most of the site was taken when Warner Bros Movie World opened. Before then there was the adjoining Cade's County (1984), which was renamed Wet'n'Wild in 1987.

South of Movie World there is the Studio Village residential area. It includes the Gaven primary school (1995), named after a suburb somewhat removed to the south-east.

On the Pacific Highway, about a kilometre south of the Oxenford Tavern (formerly Hotel), there are two shopping centres, including Oxenford Centro (2001). There are also shops at Studio Village, and to the west, near the Coomera River, at Maudsland Village. Oxenford has linear parks in most neighbourhoods, and Russ Hinze Park on Tamborine Road includes a wetland.

Oxenford's census populations have been: