- was only recently developed. Its use is still limited to resort hotels and theme parks now occupy the land. Revegetation of the Southport Spit followed the construction of the Gold Coast Seaway and gives particular character to this area and acts to link the more intensively developed area to the south with the open areas of the Broadwater and Southern Moreton Bay. Main Beach property has developed as a high rise area only relatively recently and is focused on the eTedder Avenue which features restaurants, cafes, and boutiques. It has a sense of more permanent residential neighbourhood than other parts of the high-rise coastal strip. Most of the apartment buildings along the foreshore are more modest in scale. The isthmus at Narrowneck acts as a natural barrier to the more intensively developed area to the south. The Gold Coast Oceanway travels on the seaward side of the Southport SLSC but then diverts inland to travel behind beachfront houses of Main Beach down to Narrowneck. Some local residents would like a new Oceanway pavement constructed along the road reserve between the beachfront houses and the dune area. A large number of Norfolk Island Pines (Araucaria heterophylla), a conifer that is not native to the area, have been planted on the Main Beach foreshore. On 1 September 1967, the town of Southport East was officially renamed Main Beach. At the , the suburb of Main Beach had a population of 3,496 people. In the , the suburb of Main Beach had a population of 3,883 people. 59.4% of people were born in Australia. The next most common countries of birth were New Zealand 5.6% and England 5.3%. 75.6% of people spoke only English at home. The most common responses for religion were No Religion 26.9%, Catholic 23.3% and Anglican 18.1%. Heritage listings Main Beach has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: off Macarthur Parade: Main Beach Pavilion and Southport Surf Lifesaving Club Main Beach Parade: the former Southport Cable Hut Seaworld Drive: Humphreys Boat Shed References Sources External links Main Beach Progress Association Official site Suburbs of the Gold Coast, Queensland Coastline of Queensland