James Cavill

Who was James Cavill?

James Freeman 'Jim' Cavill, a Brisbane hotelier, was one of the pioneers of the Gold Coast, Australia. His parents were Frederick Cavill, a champion swimmer, and Maria Rhodes a cousin of Cecil Rhodes.

From 1903-1913, Jim Cavill was a hairdresser with premises in Edward Street, Brisbane. Although an employer himself, he campaigned for hairdessers to have reduced working hours, similar to shop and factory workers.

In 1917, Jim Cavill was the licensee of the Royal Exchange Hotel in Toowong, Brisbane.

Many years after Johan Meyer's initial entrepreneurial endeavours failed, James Cavill purchased 25 acres of land in the Elston subdivision. He built a hotel, which he named the Surfers Paradise Hotel. Postal services were revived and refreshments and accommodation were provided for visitors to the area. James Cavill was heavily involved in the early promotion of the Elston, and lobbied hard for the name change to Surfers Paradise. The Elston area was slow to take off, but when it finally did, the local newspaper men labelled it the Gold Coast and in 1958 it became the official name for the town.