Foreword to the Book

By nationally recognised futurist and population trends author Bernard Salt

There is simply no other city on the Australian continent like the Gold Coast.

Here is a city that comprised a motley collection of shacks in small beach villages and rural centres in the middle of the 20th century.

Fifty-five years later and the Gold Coast has blossomed into a thriving metropolis of half a million people. The story of the transformation of this single city in a single generation is as exciting as it is extraordinary.

We are indeed fortunate to have a writer of the calibre and passion of Geoff Burchill, and practical development experience, to take us on this journey in Passion, Power and Prejudice. Here is a story of deals and of dealmakers, of visionaries and personalities, of good times and hard. Here is the story as seen by someone who worked in development of the city through those times.

Other cities evolve to greatness over the course of centuries; the Gold Coast has done it in our lifetime. But the Gold Coast’s story is still unfolding. Geoff’s powerful and insightful narrative allows us to understand the evolution of this city so that we may better appreciate its destiny and that of its people.

I commend Geoff on this much-needed contribution to our understanding of how this city’s development came to be and where that experience might guide it through its next eras of rapid growth.

Bernard Salt
Author The Big Shift
Melbourne