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Townsville

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Townsville redirects here. For other uses, see Townsville (disambiguation).

Template:Infobox Australian City

Townsville in 2004.

Townsville (Postcodes: 4810-4819) is a city and Local Government Area on the north-eastern coast of Australia, located in the state of Queensland at latitude 19.15 South and longitude 146.46 East.

It is adjacent to the centre section of the Great Barrier Reef in the dry tropics. The city enjoys over 300 days of sunshine each year, which lends itself to tourism activities all year round and an abundance of outdoor activities.

The population of the greater urban area of Townsville (including Thuringowa) (as of 2006) was

Townsville from Castle Hill.

approximately 160,003, making Townsville and Thuringowa Australia's largest city above the tropic of Capricorn, or the northern half of the country. Today Townsville is seen as the unofficial capital of North Queensland, servicing a vast area of the interior.

At one time during the World War 2, Townsville (this area of Townsville used to be Thuringowa) was the USA's largest overseas air base. It was common for B-26 Marauders, B-17 Flying Fortress's or B-25 Mitchell bombers to take off on long range bombing raids from Garbutt air base. The first bombing raid on Rabaul on 23 February 1942 was carried out by six B-17's based near Townsville. Between the two world wars Thuringowa unwillingly gave most of it urban areas to Townsville and this is how Townsvile got to where it is today back in 1818 Townsville was a very small area of land around Castle Hill but in 1882 Thuringowa had to give up more land and buy 1916 Thuringowa had lost almost all of it land in 1897 Thuringowa had 7612km2 and now it's 1872km2 the suburbs of Thuringowa all became Townsviile these suburbs are Alligator Creek,Woodstock,reid River, Majors creek, Hermit Park, Hyde Park, Pimlico, Mundingburra, Aitkenvale,Garbutt, Oonoonba, Stuart, Idalia, Cluden, Railway Estate and South Townsville, this is how Townsville got to be the size it is today.

Location and Setting

Townsville lies approximately 1300 km north of Brisbane, and 350 km south of Cairns. The city and immediate region is comprised of two separate local authorities, the cities of Townsville (central and southern area) and Thuringowa (inland and northern beaches), and for this reason has become and is sometimes locally referred to as the 'Twin Cities'. Similarly, other large Australian cities are composed of multiple local authorities (in Melbourne there are 30), and thus it is inaccurate to label Townsville a twin city on this basis. Townsville (like Melbourne) has always been a single regional centre and is not a part of Thuringowa the same as Thuringowa is not a part of Townsville however some locals and business say that they are in Townsville but this is incorrect and both mayors are looking at ways to stop this.

Popular attractions include 'The Strand', a long 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.

Townsville continues to expand west and south into the once rural shire of Thuringowa, and inner city high-density development has also seen population growth and further gentrification of the CBD. One significant contributor here is the construction of a new rail passenger terminal, releasing space where development of residential units and retail projects is being planned.

The Ross River flows through the city. Three weirs, fish stocking and dredging of the river in these reaches has resulted in a deep, clean waterway for the recreation of residents and visitors alike, and 30km from the mouth (at the junction of Five Head Creek)in Thuringowa city is the Ross River Dam, allowing the river to serve as the population's major water supply. This is supplemented by a smaller dam in the Paluma range to the city's north in the Thuringowa local authority, and in times of drought further water may be sourced from the acclaimed Burdekin Dam. The river is navigable only by small vessels, where speed and wash limits apply in most sections.

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 City 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.[citation needed] The position of pre-existing assets on the coast plus competition and disagreement between the two municipalities contributes to the debate. The significant renewal of the CBD with further high-density residential and retail developments is likely to continue its resurgence as the heart of the city. The addition of a major department store in the city centre to bolster and underpin redevelopment of the CBD has been frequently sought by the local residents.

Rocky Springs,(formally in Thuringowa) a planned satellite city to the south of Townsville, will eventually be expected to be home to 50,000 people. The plans will add to the changing demographic of the greater Townsville area, and help with planning the city's future sprawl.

Climate

The Townsville Region is characterised by its dry tropical climate, with distinct wet and dry seasons. The wet, coinciding with the Tropical Cyclone season runs from November to March. The area receives a lower annual rainfall than the wet tropics due to its northern coastal orientation, which means south east trade winds move parallel to the coast rather than perpendicular to it.

Townsville has an average daily maximum temperature of 28.8°C and daily minimum temperature of 19.7°C. December is the warmest month of the year with daily maximum temperatures averaging 31.4°C and daily minimum temperatures averaging 24.0°C. July is the coolest month with daily maximum temperatures averaging 25.0°C and minimum temperatures averaging 13.5°C.

The average rainfall ranges from 2571 millimetres at Paluma (north west of the city) to 1136 millimetres at Townsville City to 853 millimetres at Woodstock (inland south of the city).

Townsville experiences an annual average of 8.4 hours of sunshine per day.

Tropical Cyclones

Like most of North and Far North Queensland, Townsville is prone to Tropical Cyclones, they usually form "officially" between November and May, during this time, which is called Cyclone Season.

Here's a list of Notable Cyclones to Affect the Townsville Region:

History

File:Australien--Qld--Townsville+Thuringowa--UreinwohnerStämme--RS03a.jpg
Aboriginal tribal districts in the 'Warungowa' area around Townsville (red-filled circle) and Thuringowa prior to European settlement.

The city started life very inauspiciously when a sea captain by the name of Robert Towns commissioned John 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. On Christmas Eve 1971, Tropical Cyclone Althea, a category 4 storm battered the city and Magnetic Island, causing considerable damage. Other tropical storms have threatened the area in the intervening years, but with less effect. In October 2000 a Solomon Islands Peace Agreement was negotiated in Townsville.

Townsville is now the largest tropical city in Australia.

History during World War 2

During World War II, the city played host to over 50,000 troops as it became a major staging point for battle in the South Pacific. A large United States Armed Forces contingent supported the war effort from various bases around the city. Townsville became the target of Japanese bombing raids in 1942 with a few bombs making landfall but none reaching intended targets.

Townsville and surrounds played a major role in WW2 and a great deal of construction occurred in secret. For example there are numerous hidden air raid bunkers, reports of secret tunnels and similar secret units.

(these will be expanded in the next few days)

Meanwhile please visit this site. [1]

Economy

File:T1Crane.jpg
A Crane stands tall in Townsville's Skyline, an Icon to the City's 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.

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 in Thuringowa city, 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.

Townsville has several large public assets due to its relative position and population. These include the largest campus of 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. This places Townsville in a unique position in Australia as the only non-capital city with significant State and Federal government department administration and infrastructure resources. This has served to make the population and economy more stable than other areas of tropical Queensland.

The city is also a media centre for North Queensland, with 5 commercial radio stations, 5 commercial television stations, and the North Queensland ABC radio station.

The city remains popular with tourists, especially backpackers drawn to Magnetic Island and the Great Barrier Reef. The city has excellent diving and snorkeling facilities, with a variety of vessels using the port as a home base for their reef tourism activities. Conference tourism has become lucrative with national and international organisations choosing the area for many business forums. However, it is often overshadowed by Cairns, a more well-known tourist city 350 km to the north.

Culture

The region has many renowned festivals, celebrating some of the various international cultures that call the region home. The Annual Greek and Italian Festivals (Italian based in Ingham, north of Townsville) are popular with the locals and tourists alike and will be held at Thuringowa's new river way centre in 2006.

The annual Great Tropical Jazz Party on Magnetic Island [2]presents an international quality musical experience not otherwise available to the local (or regional) community and has a unique reputation for celebrating fine musicianship and performance in a relaxed tropical setting. The level of musicality and interchange, the intimacy of the venue and the receptiveness of our audience draws musicians from the US, Europe and New Zealand as well from across Australia who (almost uniquely) perform at no cost.

The city has a large and diverse range of restaurants representing many different cuisines of the world. The Palmer Street restaurant strip in South Townsville is home to many of these, and also plays home to an annual Jazz Festival, bringing together food, wine and music from all parts of the world. A cosmopolitan atmosphere has been developed around many of these restaurants and cafes, with sidewalk dining taking advantage of the suitable climate for outdoor living.

The city also has a vibrant pub and night-club scene, with many of them located in Flinders Street East. Local and national music groups can often be found performing live in these venues. The streetscape was renewed in 2003 with mixed reviews, and now caters for sidewalk dining at many new cafes also located in the street.

The Townsville Entertainment Centre plays host to many national and international music shows, as well as sporting and trade shows, it seats 4500 people. The Townsville Civic Theatre is North Queensland's premier cultural facility. Since its opening in 1978, the Theatre has been a dynamic centre of entertainment and performing arts, providing an environment to further develop the performing arts in Townsville and the North. The Theatre offers performances in dance, music, opera, comedy and drama from major Australian companies with international and national artists that complement the work of local performing arts groups.

Part of the local shopping experience includes the markets, with a night market conducted on the first Friday of each month at The Strand Park on the foreshore. Weekly markets (Cotters Markets) are held on Sunday mornings in the Flinders Street Mall in the city centre, with a variety of offerings including fresh produce, foods, arts and craft and other antiquities.

Transport

Road

The Bruce Highway bypasses the city (but exists as an alternate route through the city), and the Flinders Highway (A6), the main highway to western localities such as Mt Isa and the Northern Territory, meets the Bruce Highway just south of Townsville. The Bruce Highway links Townsville to all of the State's major cities along the eastern seaboard, including Cairns, Proserpine, Mackay, Rockhampton, Bundaberg and Brisbane, the state capital.

Townsville will eventually have an orbital motorway, and it will be called the Townsville Ring Road which will be the new Bruce Highway link which bypasses Townsville city and will eventually link the Bruce Highway south of Townsville to the Bruce Highway in the north-west urban area of Thuringowa. The first stage of the motorway, Douglas Arterial Road opened in 2005.

In addition to the city's highways and motorway, it is serviced by a system of state routes.

Rail

The North Coast railway line operated by Queensland Rail passes through the city, and the Western line meets it in the city's south. Rail services from Brisbane pass through Townsville and continue through to Cairns. Townsville also has a regular Tilt Train service to and from Brisbane and Cairns. The Tilt Train commenced operations in mid-2003. However, due to the destruction of a train set in a high-speed derailment in 2004 near Bundaberg, services were temporarily suspended.

Public Transport

Townsville's public transport system consists of bus services operated by Sunbus. Sunbus provides regular services to and from many parts of the city, and also operates several express routes. For example, routes 1, 1A, 1B, 1C and 1X link the CBD to the Townsville General Hospital via Stockland and to the suburb of Kelso in Thuringowa city. A public transport route is also available from the CBD to Bushland Beach also in Thuringowa, a route run by Townsville's Hermit Park Bus Service, also Townsville's biggest Charter Bus Service.

In addition to the bus system, Taxis (or cabs) operate 24 hours a day and service all parts of the metropolitan area.

Sea

Townsville has a significant port at the mouth of Ross Creek. It mainly handles cargoes of cement and nickel ore, for processing at the Yabulu Nickel Refinery, 30 km north of the port in the city of Thuringowa. The port also serves as an export point for sugar and for products from north Queensland's mines. The port has three sugar storage sheds, with the newest being the largest under-cover storage area in Australia.

Regular ferry services operate to Magnetic Island and Palm Island.

Air

Townsville International Airport (which incidentally hasn't handled international flights since 2002) at Garbutt was greatly expanded by U.S. forces during World War II. These expansions made Townsville's airfield the largest in the southern hemisphere for some time. The airport has since been rebuilt several times. Townsville International Airport serves as the hub for Queensland regional airline Macair Airlines, which operate scheduled and charter services to major mines located in outback Queensland. The airport land is also shared with the Townsville RAAF Base. The airport was upgraded in 2003 to include new terminal departure and arrivals areas, and three new aerobridges. Townsville International Airport hosts all three major domestic trunk carriers and has direct flights to Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane as well as direct connections to many regional centres in Queensland including Cairns, Mackay, Hamilton Island and Mt Isa.

Government

Townsville and Thuringowa are each governed by City Councils, both comprising of a Mayor and ten Councillors. In the Townsville City Council there are ten Divisions which elect one Councillor each. In The Thuringowa City Council there are two Divisions, one which elects three Councillors and one which elects seven. The Mayor of Townsville is Tony Mooney (Labor), while the Mayor of Thuringowa is Les Tyrell (Liberal).

In the Queensland Parliament the city is represented by four electorates: Thuringowa, Mundingburra, Townsville and Burdekin. Representitives of the State Government electorates are:

  • Thuringowa: Craig Wallace
  • Mundingburra: Lindy Nelson Carr (Secretary to the premier of Queensland)
  • Townsville: Hon Mike Reynolds (Child Safety Minister in the State Government of Queensland)

In the Federal Parliament the city is represented by Peter Lindsay, the member for the seat of Herbert.

Sister cities

  Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea since 1983
  Shunan, Japan since 1990
  Iwaki City, Japan since August, 1991
  Changshu, The People's Republic of China since 1995
  Suwon, South-Korea since 1996

Defence

The Australian Army maintains a very strong presence in the north of Australia and this is evident by the basing of the Army's 3rd Brigade in Townsville. The 3rd Brigade is a light infantry brigade with significant air-mobile assets. The brigade consists of two Light Infantry Battalions and a Parachute Infantry Battalion. It has integral Artillery, Engineer, Aviation Reconnaissance and Combat Service Support Units. It is a high readiness brigade that has been deployed frequently at very short notice on combat operations outside mainland Australia. These include Somalia, Rwanda, Namibia, East Timor, Bougainville, Solomon Islands, Iraq and Afghanistan. In addition to the 3rd Brigade, a number of other major units are based in Townsville. These include the 5th Aviation Regiment, equipped with Blackhawk and Chinook helicopters, collocated at the RAAF Base in Garbutt and the 10th Force Support Battalion based at Ross Island. 10 FSB is a force logistics unit that provides back up logistic support to deployed units. The battalion provides specialist transport and supply support. The Army also maintains an Army Reserve Brigade in Townsville designated the 11th Brigade. This formation is similar in structure to the 3rd brigade but comprises reserve soldiers only.

As with the Army, the Royal Australian Air Force also maintain a strong presence in Townsville. RAAF Base Townsville, which is located in the suburb of Garbut, houses several fixed wing tactical transport aircraft Squadrons. These Squadrons provide support to the Army units in Townsville. The base is also a high readiness Defence asset and is prepared to accept the full range of RAAF aircraft types as well as other international aircraft including the huge US C-17 Globemaster and the Russian Antonov transport aircraft.

Sport and Recreation

File:Dairyfarmers2.jpg
Dairy Farmers Stadium in full capacity during a 2003 Rugby Union World Cup match.

Townsville and Thuringowa play host to a NRL team, the North Queensland Cowboys, a National Basketball League (Australia) team, the Townsville Crocodiles, a Women's National Basketball League (Australia) team, the Townsville Fire.

The Cowboys were Semi and Preliminary Finalists in the 2004 NRL season, and were finally defeated by the Sydney Roosters in the Preliminary Finals. In the 2005 NRL Season, the Cowboys played the Wests Tigers in the Grand Final on 2 October 2005. They were defeated by the Tigers.

The Cowboys play at Dairy Farmers Stadium in Thuringowa, a venue which has hosted three 2003 Rugby Union World Cup matches, and has a maximum capacity crowd of 27,000 people. The stadium could hold up to 31,000 but a recent upgrade in seats, which was meant to increase capacity, dropped capacity instead. The stadium was first built in 1995 after it was announced that Townsville would be home to a new NRL Rugby League Team. It was originally known as Stockland Stadium and then Malanda Stadium before becoming Dairy Farmers Stadium. A new 3,000 seat upgrade will begin soon to cater for the larger crowds that are expected to attend the Stadium following the Cowboys history making performance in 2005, finishing second in the NRL.

The twin cities also played host to the enormously popular Japanese team during the 2003 Rugby World Cup, with the team playing the majority of the preliminary round games at Dairy Farmers Stadium.

In 2006, the Super 14 rugby union team Queensland Reds will play their final home fixture of the season at Dairy Farmers Stadium, after playing all of their previous home fixtures in their regular home of Brisbane. Depending on the attendance of this match, Townsville may host Super 14 matches in future seasons (most likely one annually).

The Riverway Project, a major urban and recreational development in Thuringowa city will have a new international standard Cricket and Australian rules football stadium as one of the centrepieces of the project. The project is currently underway in several stages.

AFL Townsville operate an Australian rules football league in the region.

The twin cities are also the stronghold of Zone 6 of the Queensland Darts Association. Current and past players include Tony David, winner of the 2002 Embassy World Championships, David Nogar Jnr, the first Queensland player to throw a nine dart game in a sanctioned match, Wiggy Solomon and Jeremy Fagg, both currently in the top 10 Queensland players (as rated by the Darts Federation of Australia).

Townsville will also play host to the Queensland Secondary Schools Rugby League U/15 State Titles. Favourites for these titles are the Capricornia side. They are a team with a tough pack of fowards and backs that could match any side.

The possibility of the city having a football team as part of an expanded A-League has been raised.

Education

There are numerous schools in Townsville (including Thuringowa schools that are in Thuringowa not Townsville), and with growth in the region there are proposals for more primary and high schools. James Cook University, Townsville's only University, is planning a billion dollar expansion, including extra student accommodation, a Student Village (i.e shopping mall, cafes, restaurants, etc.), and extra faculties. The Veterinary Sciences faculty is due to open soon while the Physical and Sports Rec Science faculty was recently opened to students.

Media and Communications

Radio Stations

4TO FM 102.3 (commercial, retransmitted on 774 AM)
Sea FM 100.7 (commercial)
Mix FM 106.3 (commercial)
Hot FM 103.1 (commercial)
ABC Townsville 630 AM
Classic FM 101.5
Radio National 104.7 FM
JJJ 105.5 FM
4TCB 99.9 FM (community)
4TTT 103.9 FM (community)
4K1G 107.1 FM (Indigenous)
891 AM (narrowcast)
98.9 FM (narrowcast)

Suburbs of Townsville

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