Fibro Coast | UniSC | University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia

Accessibility links

Fibro Coast

At a time when rapid change to the urban fabric of the Gold and Sunshine Coasts was taking place, this exhibition gave visitors the opportunity to re-engage with the cultural, artistic, architectural and design legacy of the beach cottage.

Presented in collaboration with the Gold Coast Art Gallery and independent curator John Waldron, Fibro Coast presented a series of contemporary artists’ impressions in addition to historical paintings, architectural information and photographs of the changing landscape of the Gold and Sunshine Coasts.

IMAGE
Blair MCNAMARA Coolum Kitchen photographic image on satin paper. USC Art Collection.

Fibro Coast Logo C Hero Image1

Related Events

Film Screening
The Place at the Coast
2pm Sunday 22 June

Writer Jane Hyde will introduce a screening of the film The Place at the Coast, a screen adaptation by producer Hilary Furlong of Jane’s book of the same name.

In 1949 when Jane was four, her family began holidaying at Dicky Beach, Caloundra, in a fibro house designed by her late father, the architect John Kershaw. It was split level with a single sloping roof, novelties that would become coastal vernacular.

The impending loss to development of the surrounding landscape in the 1960s inspired Jane to write The Place at the Coast. The film, made in 1987 and starring the late John Hargreaves, is set in southern NSW at the village of South Durras.

Fibro Coast Forum
2pm Thursday 31 July

With rapid change occurring on both the Gold and Sunshine Coasts and recent controversies within both communities around the demolition of fibro structures, speakers from heritage, planning, museum, art, community and development industries address the range of issues around the assessment, understanding and retention of these structures in physical or other forms.

Speakers: Gail Robinson (Performing artist and Memorably Moffat coordinator), Professor Paul Cooper (University of Wollongong Faculty Adviser and Director of the Sustainable Buildings Research Centre at the University of Wollongong), Roger Todd (Sunshine Coast architect), Dr Kevin Rains (Coordinator Cultural Heritage Development, City of Gold Coast), Judy Barrass (exhibiting artist) Virginia Rigney (Exhibition Co-Curator, Gold Coast City Gallery) and John Waldron (Blue Sky View Exhibition Services).

Walking Tour of Moffat Beach
2pm Sunday 3 August 
Meeting point: 8 Campbell Street, Moffat Beach

This year local architect Roger Todd was awarded Regional Project of the Year at the Sunshine Coast Architecture Awards for his significant study on Post WW2 Development on the coast with a focus on Moffat Beach. Roger will lead a walking tour of Moffat Beach discussing the area’s unique architecture, holiday heritage and the importance of preserving its character.