NSWPort & river
Tweed Heads
A pilot station at the river bar grew into a twin border town.
1870Pilot station opens at the river mouth
WHAT STARTED IT
Tweed Heads stands at the mouth of the Tweed River, where cedar cut upriver from the 1840s was shipped to Sydney. A pilot station opened in 1870 to guide vessels across the river bar, and government families settled around it.
WHAT SUSTAINED IT
Cleared land upriver turned to dairying, sugar cane and bananas, and a fishing industry developed. The railway from Brisbane terminated here from 1903, joining Tweed Heads and Coolangatta as holiday ‘Twin Towns’ divided by the state border.
TURNING POINTS
1870The Tweed Heads pilot station begins operating.
1871The first school opens.
1903The railway from Brisbane terminates at Tweed Heads.
1911The Tweed Heads and Coolangatta Surf Life Saving Club opens.
1947Tweed Shire is declared.
WHAT IT DOES NOW
The northernmost town in New South Wales, merging with Coolangatta across the border. It is a residential and visitor centre for the Tweed coast.