In 1887, German immigrant Johann Meyer operated a ferry across the Nerang River. From Southport, travellers would follow the Meyer's Ferry Road (now
Ferry Road and
Bundall Road) to a spit of land that created a narrow point in the river (). The narrow spit is no longer in existence due to changes in the river and the creation of
Chevron Island but was in the vicinity of the
Gold Coast Arts Centre. From that point, Meyer's ferry would take the travellers across the river to Meyer's Ferry Road at Elston (or the Main Surf Beach as it was then informally known, now
Cavill Avenue, Surfers Paradise). Although a popular destination, the lack of road access limited the extent of residential and commercial development. In 1925, the Southport Bridge (as it was initially known) was built as a direct extension of Queen Street, Southport () in an approximate east-west alignment connecting to what is now Main Beach Parade, Main Beach (); at that time Main Beach was not developed as it is today. The bridge was wide and built on reinforced concrete piles, mostly sunk down to a solid rock foundation. The superstructure was built from
ironbark and
spotted gum. The pedestrian crossing was wide and the road crossing was , sufficient for two cars to pass. The bridge rose in the middle to allow small boats to pass under it; a central span could be raised and lowered using a hand winch to allow larger vessels to pass, but the process took 25 minutes. The bridge cost approximately £23,000. In 1933, the lifting span was removed as large vessels no longer used the river. replaced the Jubilee Bridge, which was demolished. The bridge departs from a similar area of Southport but has a more north-south alignment and so reaches Main Beach further south than the Jubilee Bridge. ==References==