It is believed the Bundjalung Aboriginal people lived in the area for thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans. The area was so rich in food that they did not move great distances although there is evidence they travelled to the Bunya Mountains west of the Sunshine Coast for the annual bunya nut gathering.
As he travelled along the eastern coast of Australia in 1770, Captain Cook noted Mount Warning (the huge volcanic caldera) and very nearly hit reefs at the point north of Kingscliff he named Point Danger.
By the 1820 explorers were moving through the area (notably John Oxley and John Rous) and it was their reports which encouraged timber cutters. By the 1840s the cedar was being cut and being shipped out along the Tweed River. By the 1890s the railway had reached the area and by the 1930s the area further north, particularly Coolangatta and Tweed Heads, was becoming a popular tourist holiday destination.
The Kingscliff Main Street Festival is held each year in October.
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