A newborn humpback whale stranded on a Gold Coast beach has been returned to the ocean, with the hope it will make contact with its mother.

A crowd of hundreds on the shore at Surfers Paradise cheered as the calf, towed by two jetskis, cleared the beach and was released into the surf where he made his way back out to the ocean. Two jetskis escorted it to deeper water and rescuers are hoping the whale stays offshore and doesn't come back to the beach, where it was found about 1am (AEST).

Rescuers have yet to spot the calf's mother but are hoping the baby whale will be able to call to her and she will return to guide him out to deep water.

Seaworld's director of marine sciences, Trevor Long, said the calf would be monitored for the rest of the day to give it the best opportunity to reunite with its mother. "It's not over yet. The whale has been lying on one pectoral fin all night," Mr Long said. "He's very sore and not moving it much at all. The hope of this exercise is that he will now be able to communicate with his mother but we don't know where his mother is. However they can communicate for many tens of kilometres so if his mother is 20 or 30 kilometres away, she might be able to pick him up. He may come back to the beach. We've done everything we can at this stage but at some point in time we'll have to leave the animal and let nature take its course."

Mr Long said the calf, which is only one week old, could survive for up to five days without feeding from its mother but would become progressively weaker and is already very tired.

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/stranded-calf-whale-swims-off-to-find-mum/story-e6frfku0-1226110889482#ixzz1URl1LhWw