Official celebrations started for former students last night when thousands of school leavers congregated around Surfers Paradise to enjoy the entertainment and facilities provided.
Generally police were pleased with the behaviour of schoolies, with only a small number of the large crowd coming to the attention of police.
Overnight police arrested 19 schoolies, 18 males and one female, on 23 offences. The majority of offences were for being drunk and public nuisance. There were eight arrests for drug offences.
42 schoolies were issued with liquor infringement notices for drinking in a public place.
Police arrested 35 non-schoolies on 40 charges, mainly for public nuisance and other good order offences, along with three non-schoolies issued with liquor infringement notices.
