The Southport School is celebrating its rural origins and 125 years of boys’ education on the Gold Coast, Qld.
Story Kate Newsome Photo The Southport School
Although surrounded by high-rises and just a stone’s throw from Surfers Paradise Beach, The Southport School (TSS) has an origin story closer to country Australia than looks suggest.
When the seaside school was founded by the Right Reverend Horace Henry Dixon C.B.E in 1901, it welcomed an inaugural cohort of six students. Now, 125 years on, The Southport School has more than 1,700 enrolled. It is Queensland’s oldest Anglican boys’ boarding school and remains the only boys’ boarding school on the Gold Coast, Qld.
“The Gold Coast was literally dairy farms and bushland until it became what it is today,” says TSS headmaster, Andrew Hawkins. “The evolution of the coast has meant we’ve had to change and evolve as well.”
TSS began for boarders only and expanded with the region. With each decade, the Gold Coast’s tourism industry and population swelled until it was proclaimed a city in 1959. In 1971, the school accepted its first day students. By the 1990s, prep students were moved to a separate campus.
Currently, there are approximately 300 boarders at The Southport School. Many are from north-western NSW, central and south-western Queensland.
This story excerpt is from issue #167
Outback Magazine: June/July 2026
