{"id":381587,"date":"2025-11-15T21:39:19","date_gmt":"2025-11-15T21:39:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/381587\/"},"modified":"2025-11-15T21:39:19","modified_gmt":"2025-11-15T21:39:19","slug":"gold-coast-schoolies-celebrations-set-to-be-scaled-back-and-subdued","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/381587\/","title":{"rendered":"Gold Coast Schoolies celebrations set to be scaled back and subdued"},"content":{"rendered":"

Schoolies celebrations on the Gold Coast will be scaled back for the first time this year due to ongoing beach erosion in the wake of Tropical Cyclone Alfred.<\/p>\n

The state government and Gold Coast Council have confirmed graduates will still be able to party on the beach when celebrations kick off next weekend, November 22.<\/p>\n

However, the schoolies hub \u2014 which is a dedicated alcohol-free and drug-free entertainment precinct, set up on the Surfers Paradise beachfront \u2014 will be smaller than previous years due to safety concerns.<\/p>\n

“The department has been working closely with the City of Gold Coast on the best location for the Schoolies Hub,” a Queensland government spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

“On advice from council’s coastal experts, event infrastructure [including the stage] will be located off the sand.<\/p>\n

“The safety of young people and the local community remains the highest priority.”<\/p>\n

\"two<\/p>\n

A smaller section of Surfers Paradise Beach will be cordoned off for the Schoolies hub (right) compared to previous years (left). (Supplied: Schoolies GC)<\/p>\n

‘Fitness for fun’<\/p>\n

The first Schoolies run club will also be held this year to cater for the growing proportion of school leavers trading hangovers for wholesome daytime activities.<\/p>\n

Red Frogs founder and director Andy Gourley said there had been a “dramatic change” in the culture over the past five years.<\/p>\n

“The key indicator to us were the cafes. The cafes at Surfers were empty back in the day \u2014 tumbleweeds going through them,” Mr Gourley said.<\/p>\n

\"Andy<\/p>\n

Andy says there has been a dramatic shift in drinking habits. (Supplied: National Australia Day Council)<\/p>\n

“But now, come 9-10 in the morning, they’re just full of schoolies doing smashed avo and lattes.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He said schoolies were also focused on their health and fitness, consuming less alcohol than previous years.<\/p>\n

“We see about probably half of schoolies aren’t big drinkers now and they’re more interested in their fitness and sport so, this year, we’ve got some run clubs we’re setting up to do, and also we’ll jump into a bit of morning yoga with them as well,” Mr Gourley said.<\/p>\n

“If we can wear them out during the day, that means less dramas at night-time.”<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

The first Schoolies run club will be held on the Gold Coast. (Getty Images\/Warren Little)<\/p>\n

Why the shift?<\/p>\n

Gold Coast-based GP and Bond University assistant professor Kieran Le Plastrier said generation Alpha and Z were some of the lowest alcohol consumers in the history of Western culture.<\/p>\n

“Their initiation to alcohol is much later, the risk of binge-drinking is much lower and all drug use in that group of people is actually much, much lower,”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Dr Le Plastrier said.\"An<\/p>\n

The stage will be set up off the sand. (ABC Gold Coast: Kimberley Bernard)<\/p>\n

“This is a group of humans which have had the benefits since they were children of understanding the risks and harms, and so a lot of young people actually don’t want to drink excessively because they actually know the damage that it’s doing to their bodies and to their brains.”<\/p>\n

He urged schoolies wanting to consume alcohol to pace themselves and to ensure they had plenty of water to drink and food to eat.<\/p>\n

“Make sure you’re not drinking alone and if you see your friend obviously becoming intoxicated, it’s really time to stop drinking, get the water into them, get them a bit of ibuprofen and get them home for a sleep,” Dr Le Plastrier said.<\/p>\n

Plenty of space to party\"man<\/p>\n

Mayor Tom Tate says beach restoration works are continuing. (ABC Gold Coast: Steve Keen)<\/p>\n

Schoolies beach parties were in limbo after Cyclone Alfred ripped an estimated 6 million cubic metres of sand from beaches across the city in March.<\/p>\n

Since then, the Gold Coast Council has spent about $35 million to get the beaches back to a suitable condition, with 1 million cubic metres of sand dredged and pumped towards the shoreline.<\/p>\n

Mayor Tom Tate said there would be ample space to host an estimated 15,000 teenage school leavers, especially with the closure of the Surfers Paradise Esplanade to traffic for a three-month trial.<\/a><\/p>\n

“That gives you additional room, so it’s almost like we brought the beach all the way into the shops, so that gives it more room for the younger people to enjoy life,”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Cr Tate said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Schoolies celebrations on the Gold Coast will be scaled back for the first time this year due to…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":381588,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[4740,182719,50,182718],"class_list":["post-381587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-australia","tag-cyclone-alfred","tag-news","tag-schoolies"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115555884866741470","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=381587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381587\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/381588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}