History and Locations of Gold Coast Clay Target Club
Formerly Gold Coast & Albert Clay Target Club, Gold Coast Gun Club & South Coast Gun Club
Our first club location of was in the south-eastern corner of the Southport Racecourse and the club utilised a couple of “Igloos” which were concrete bunkers left over from the war. The members would have started work in 1950 and the South Coast Gun Club held its first competition under the Australian Clay Pigeon Trap Shooting Association (ACPTSA) on Saturday 12 May 1951. Mr. Eric Gaven the State MLA fired the opening shot (and missed.) Five events were programmed and due to the large numbers (53,) only three events were completed.
These grounds were the host of the early versions of the National Trap Championships in 1957, 1960 & 1963.
The club now called the Gold Coast Gun Club moved to the second Southport location in Nerang Road (next to the old Woods Transport) with the entrance opposite Aquinas College. It was built with a two-storey brick clubhouse, 5 DTL layouts and the opening shoot was on 12–13 November 1966 and then we held our last National Championships there in 1967, this event was probably the wettest Nationals ever.
The 50-acre property was privately owned by the Club. Unfortunately, we were overtaken by development; the transport depot lights, noise restrictions and the suburb ‘closing in’ & this caused the sale of the club in the early 70’ies with an extension of time to relocate, and in 1975, we moved out with a fair amount of cash. The grounds today would be superimposed over the current location of Gold Coast Shooters Supplies.
There was almost a two-year lapse as new grounds were located and earthworks performed and then rebuilding a club from the ground up. Mr Kevin Seeney was involved with levelling the new site & that saw him join the club when we eventually reopened.
On the 15th August 1976 the Gold Coast Gun Club opened on the western side of the Gold Coast Highway in Rifle Range Road at Pimpama, just opposite the little race car track on the Pacific Highway. We had 3 DTL traps and 2 skeet layouts, generator power and one of the biggest Tri-Steel garages as a clubhouse. We had a part lease over the reserve and eventually had to create an affiliated small bore rifle club to enable us to be “recognised officially” by the Landlord.
Again, the development of new acreage blocks adjacent to the club forced the committee to search again for new grounds, after contributing to the “well-being” of some of the neighbours for a period. This time the search & re-development happened while still competing at the current site.
In that time, we changed the club’s name to Gold Coast Clay Target Club as the word “gun” was now an issue. Shortly before shifting we amended the name again to Gold Coast and Albert Clay Target Club to recognise the support we received from the Albert Shire Council to re-locate.
The fact there was a bitumen road and an electrical pole transformer out on the road sealed the deal. The initial grounds were flood prone and a massive amount of earth was bought in to build on. Kevin Seeney again had a major hand in the huge earthworks required to get us up and off the ground, the President designed the clubhouse and the future President managed its build. This initial ground development of 4 DTL layouts & 2 Skeet layouts would not have been possible without our strong club member involvement.
On the 18th November 1990 we held our first shoot down Gross Road at Woongoolba, the site of our club today. The official opening was on Saturday 18th January 1991.
Mike Murphy took over as President of the new facility at the first AGM & my fifteen-year stint in the ‘hot seat’ ended. Following the merging of Local Authorities and Albert Shire being included in the Gold Coast Local Authority we reverted to Gold Coast Clay Target Club again in 1995.
We have since developed and utilised a ball trap layout and two sporting fields at either end of the complex. The Ball trap was eventually ‘over printed’ with a 3rd Skeet layout. We extended trap shooting with a 5th DTL layout and in 2018 installed a 15 trap Trench layout. Our Clubs Honor Board illuminates the past Presidents, Secretaries, Life Members & Financial Life Members we have been privileged to work with over these last 30+ years.
This is the longest period our club has enjoyed in the one location and in November 2021 we celebrated our 30th Anniversary.
Colin Witt
Past President & Honorary Life Member
