Australia · State of Queensland · Gold Coast
Ormeau, Gold Coast — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Ormeau is a hinterland suburb of the City of Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia, named through Belfast for the French word for a young elm.
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Where to stay in Ormeau
Where the beds are, and what that means for the visit.
Ormeau sits inland on the northern Gold Coast, roughly midway between Surfers Paradise and Brisbane, which makes it a commuter address rather than a beach one. It is hinterland, not coast. Cupania occupies the northern part of the suburb, gazetted in 1991 and named for the Cupaniopsis anacardioides trees planted on the estate.
About Ormeau
What are the main landmarks in Ormeau?
Schools are what Ormeau has instead of monuments, and there are a great many for a suburb this size: Toogoolawa School from 2001, Livingstone Christian College from 2002, the Lutheran Ormeau Rivers District School from 2006, and both Norfolk Village State School and Ormeau Woods State High School opening on the same day in 2009. The Pimpama River closes the southern boundary.
What is the history of Ormeau?
The name travelled a long way. Major Alexander Jenyns Boyd, a sugar planter of the 1860s, called his estate Ormeau House after Ormeau Road in Belfast, where his first wife Isabella Dawson was born, and the French word ormeau means a young elm. Podinga Provisional School opened in 1878 and was renamed for Ormeau in 1892, becoming Ormeau State School in 1909, though the boundaries have since moved and it now stands in Pimpama.
Where is Ormeau?
Ormeau lies in the northern part of the City of Gold Coast, well inland of Surfers Paradise and south of Brisbane. Yatala adjoins it on the north. The Pimpama River forms the southern boundary, and Cupania sits within the suburb's northern end, which leaves Ormeau a hinterland block between a river and a neighbour rather than a place with a centre.
More areas in Gold Coast
Updated September 2026