Townsville in 2004.

Townsville from Castle Hill

Townsville (Postcode: 4810) is a city and Local Government Area on the north-eastern coast of Australia, located in the state of Queensland at latitude 19.25 South and longitude 146.80 East. The population of the combined urban areas of Townsville/Thuringowa (as of 2004) was approximately 155,500. Townsville is positioned in the centre section of the Great Barrier Reef in the dry tropics. Townsville as viewed from the Museum of Tropical Queensland, 31 August 2004. ... Townsville as viewed from the Museum of Tropical Queensland, 31 August 2004. ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1536x1024, 312 KB) Townsville city from Castle Hill near sunset, on the 7th of July, 2005 File links The following pages link to this file: Townsville, Queensland ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1536x1024, 312 KB) Townsville city from Castle Hill near sunset, on the 7th of July, 2005 File links The following pages link to this file: Townsville, Queensland ... Local Government Area (abbreviated LGA) is a term used in Australia (and especially by the Australian Bureau of Statistics) to refer to areas controlled by each individual Local Government. ... Motto: Audax at Fidelis (Bold but Faithful) Nickname: Sunshine State/Smart State Other Australian states and territories Capital Brisbane Government Governor Premier Const. ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Satellite image of a part of the Great Barrier Reef. ...

Location and Setting

The Townsville region is sometimes known as the 'Twin Cities', as the urban area includes the cities of Townsville (the coast and southern part of the region) and Thuringowa (inland and northern part of the region). Townsville continues to expand west and north, into the previously rural district of Thuringowa. Unit development in the inner city of Townsville is increasing the population density. Thuringowa is a city and Local Government Area in northern Queensland, Australia that covers the northern and western parts of the urban area usually referred to as Townsville. ...

The Ross River flows through Townsville. It is trunkated by three weirs and dammed 30km from its mouth, at the junction of Five Head Creek. The river is only navigable by small vessels. Boat speed and wash limits apply in most sections. Dredging and fish stocking of weirs has resulted in a deep, clean waterway for the recreation of the city's residents. The Ross River Dam is Townsville's major water supply. This is supplemented by a smaller dam in the Paluma range to the city's north. The Burdekin Dam provides further water to the city in times of drought.

Popular attractions for locals and visitors include 'The Strand', a long well-maintained tropical beach and garden strip; Reef HQ, a large tropical aquarium holding many of the Great Barrier Reef's native flora and fauna; the Museum of Tropical Queensland, built around a display of relics from the sunken British warship HMS Pandora; and Magnetic Island, a large neighbouring island, the vast majority of which is national park. A 335,000 US gallon (1. ... Satellite image of a part of the Great Barrier Reef. ... Five vessels of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Pandora after the mythological Pandora: Pandora, launched in 1779, was a 24-gun frigate. ... Magnetic Island, just offshore from the city of Townsville, Queensland, Australia in Cleveland Bay is a 52 km² mountainous island which has effectively become a suburb of Townsville having well over 2000 permanent residents. ... Yosemite National Park in the United States. ...

The historic waterfront on Ross Creek, leading into Cleveland Bay, has some excellent old buildings mixed with the later modern skyline though nothing dominates this more than the huge 292 metre (just 8 metres short of being a mountain!) mass of red granite called Castle Hill. There is a lookout at the summit giving panoramic views of the city and its suburbs including Cleveland Bay and Magnetic Island. Several new suburbs and the shifting demographics of the Twin Cities have produced some debate amongst the locals as to whether the CBD will stay directly on the coast or move to an inland geographical centre of the city. The position of pre-existing assets on the coast plus the rivalry between the two cities contributes to the debate. Castle Hill is a huge pink granite monolith standing in the heart of the north Queensland city of Townsville. ... Magnetic Island, just offshore from the city of Townsville, Queensland, Australia in Cleveland Bay is a 52 km² mountainous island which has effectively become a suburb of Townsville having well over 2000 permanent residents. ... CBD may stand for: Customer and Deposit System Development Central business district Convention on Biological Diversity Cannabidiol, a cannabinoid from Cannabis sativa (hemp). ...

History

The city started life very inauspiciously when a sea captain by the name of Robert Towns commissioned James Melton Black to build a wharf on Cleveland Bay to service the new cattle industry inland. The location for the town was dictated by its location between the Burdekin and Herbert rivers, which, when in flood, could isolate access to the area by land for months at a time. The town was gazetted in 1865 and was declared a city in 1903. It is now the largest tropical city in Australia and is seen as the long-established, but unofficial, capital of northern Queensland,and services a vast area of the interior. In October 2000 a Solomon Islands Peace Agreement was negotiated in Townsville. The tropics are the geographic region of the Earth centered on the equator and limited in latitude by the two tropics: the Tropic of Cancer in the north and the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern hemisphere. ... October is the tenth month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of seven Gregorian months with the length of 31 days. ... This article is about the year 2000. ...

Economy

Tourism has of late helped in the city's expansion, though its traditional role is as an industrial port for exporting minerals from Mount Isa and Cloncurry, also beef and wool from the western plains and sugar and timber from the coastal regions, and this continues to be of great importance. Mount Isa, Queensland, Australia Mount Isa is a city and Local Government Area located in north-western Queensland, Australia. ... The town of Cloncurry is situated in north west Queensland, Australia, 770 kilometres west of the city of Townsville via the Flinders Highway. ... Beef is meat obtained from a bovine. ... Long and short hair wool at the South Central Family Farm Research Center in Boonesville, AR Wool is the fiber derived from the hair of domesticated animals, usually sheep. ... A sugar is a carbohydrate which is sweet to taste. ... Timber Timber is a term used to describe wood throughout its processing from the time it is planned for use in industrial products to the time it is used as a structural material or in other industrial product, such as wood pulp for paper production. ...

The city also has its own manufacturing and processing industries. Townsville is the only city globally to refine three different base metals - Zinc, Copper and Nickel. Nickel ore is imported from Indonesia, the Philippines and New Caledonia and processed at the Yabulu Nickel refinery, 30 kilometres north of the port. Zinc ore is transported by rail from the Cannington Mine, south of Cloncurry, for smelting at the Sun Metals refinery south of Townsville. Copper concentrate from the smelter at Mt Isa is also railed to Townsville for further refining at the copper refinery at Stuart. General Name, Symbol, Number zinc, Zn, 30 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 12, 4, d Appearance bluish pale gray Atomic mass 65. ... General Name, Symbol, Number copper, Cu, 29 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 11, 4, d Appearance copper, metallic Atomic mass 63. ... General Name, Symbol, Number nickel, Ni, 28 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 10, 4, d Appearance lustrous, metallic Atomic mass 58. ...

Townsville has several large public assets due to its relative position and population. These include the only university in northern Queensland, James Cook University, the CSIRO Davies Laboratory, the Australian Institute of Marine Science headquarters, the large Army base at Lavarack Barracks and the Air Force base at Garbutt. James Cook University (JCU) is a university based in Townsville, Queensland, Australia and was founded in 1970 as the first tertiary education institution in North Queensland (although the first may have been the local TAFE college instead). ... The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is the national government body for scientific research in Australia. ...

Transport

Townsville is a hub for all the major transport modes.

Road

The Bruce Highway (the main coastal highway) bypasses the city, and the main highway west to Mt Isa and the Northern Territory, the Flinders Highway, meets the Bruce Highway just south of Townsville. Bruce Highway The Bruce Highway is the major coastal highway of Queensland, Australia. ... Mount Isa, Queensland, Australia Mount Isa is a city located in north western Queensland, Australia. ... Motto: None Nickname: ? Other Australian states and territories Capital Darwin Government Administrator Chief Minister Const. ... There are several highways called the Flinders Highway. ...

Rail

The Great Northern Railway operated by Queensland Rail passes through the city, and the western rail line meets it just south of the city. Rail services from Brisbane pass through Townsville and continue through to Cairns. QR, formerly known as Queensland Rail and Queensland Railways, is the corporation responsible for the operation and maintenance of the railway system in the State of Queensland, Australia. ...

Sea

Townsville has a significant port at the mouth of Ross Creek. Major imported cargoes include cement and Nickel ore, for processing at the Yabulu Nickel refinery, 30 kilometres north of the port. The port also serves as an export point for products from mines North Queensland and for sugar export - with three sugar storage sheds, the newest being the largest under-cover storage area in Australia.

Regular ferry services operate to Magnetic Island and Palm Island. Magnetic Island, just offshore from the city of Townsville, Queensland, Australia in Cleveland Bay is a 52 km² mountainous island which has effectively become a suburb of Townsville having well over 2000 permanent residents. ... Palm Island is 65 km north-east of Townsville, Queensland on the east coast of Australia. ...

Air

Townsville International Airport (which incidentally no longer handles international flights) at Garbutt was greatly expanded by US forces during World War II, making it the largest airfield in the southern hemisphere for a time, and has been rebuilt several times since. World War II was a truly global conflict with many facets: immense human suffering, fierce indoctrinations, and the use of new, extremely devastating weapons like the atom bomb. ...

Government

Townsville and Thuringowa are each governed by City Councils, both comprising of a Mayor and ten Councillors. In Townsville there are ten wards which elect one Councillor each. In Thuringowa there are two wards, one which elects three Councillors and one which elects seven. The Mayor of Townsville is Tony Mooney. The Mayor of Thuringowa is Les Tyrell. A city council is the most common style of legislative government in a city or town. ...

In the Queensland Parliament the city is represented by four electorates: Thuringowa, Mundingburra, Townsville and Burdekin. The Parliament of Queensland is the legislature of Queensland, Australia. ...

In the Federal Parliament the city is represented by Peter Lindsay, the member for the seat of Herbert Parliament House, Canberra The Parliament of Australia is the legislative branch of Australia. ... The Division of Herbert is an Australian Electoral Division in Queensland. ...

Sports and Recreation

Townsville plays host to a NRL team, the North Queensland Cowboys, a National Basketball League (Australia) team, the Townsville Crocodiles and a Womens National Basketball League(Australia) team, the Townsille Fire. The National Rugby League (NRL) is one of the most popular sporting competitions in Australia and, in recent times, New Zealand, consisting of fifteen teams playing Rugby League football against each other. ... The North Queensland Cowboys is a Rugby League club based in Townsville, Queensland, Australia which represents the region of North Queensland. ... The National Basketball League is Australias top-level professional basketball competition. ... The Townsville Crocodiles are a basketball team competing in the Australian National Basketball League. ...

External links

• Townsville Online
• Townsville Council
• Thuringowa Council
• Townsville Airport
• Port of Townsville
• James Cook University