Townsville is a city on the
north-eastern coast of Australia, in the
state of Queensland
. Adjacent to the central section of the
Great Barrier
Reef
, it is in the dry tropics region of
Queensland. Townsville is Australia's largest urban centre
north of the Sunshine Coast, with a 2006 census population of
143,328, and a 2007–2008 estimated population of 162,730. The
August 2009 population is estimated at 180,500.. Considered the
unofficial capital of
North
Queensland, Townsville hosts a significant number of
governmental, community and major business administrative offices
for the northern half of the state.
Popular
attractions include 'The Strand'
, a long tropical beach and garden strip; Riverway
, a riverfront parkland attraction located on the
banks of Ross
River
; 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.
History
Early History
Such indigenous
groups as the
Wulgurukaba, Bindal, Girrugubba, Warakamai and Nawagi, among
others, originally inhabited the Townsville area. The Wulgurukaba
claim to be the traditional owner of the Townsville city area; the
Bindal had a claim struck out by the
Federal Court of Australia in
2005.
James Cook visited the Townsville region
on his first voyage to Australia in 1770, but did not actually land
there.
Cook named nearby Cape Cleveland, Cleveland
Bay, and Magnetic
Island. CIn 1819, Captain
Phillip Parker King and botanist
Alan Cunningham were the
first Europeans to record a local landing.
In 1846, James Morrill
was shipwrecked from the Peruvian, living in the
Townsville area among the Bindal people for 17 years before
being found by white men and returned to Brisbane
.
Establishment
The
Burdekin
River
's seasonal flooding made the establishment of a
seaport north of the river essential to the nascent inland cattle
industry. John Melton Black of Woodstock Station, an
employee of Sydney entrepreneur and businessman
Robert Towns, dispatched Andrew Ball, Mark Watt
Reid and a small party of aborigines to search for a suitable site.
Ball's
party reached the Ross Creek in April
1864 and established a camp below the rocky spur of Melton
Hill, near the present Customs House on The
Strand. The first party of settlers, led by W.A.
Ross, arrived at Cleveland Bay from Woodstock Station on
5 November of that year. In 1866
Robert Towns visited for three days, his first
and only visit. He agreed to provide ongoing financial assistance
to the new settlement and Townsville was named in his honour.
Townsville was declared a municipality in February 1866, with John
Melton Black elected as its first Mayor.
Townsville developed
rapidly as the major port and service centre for the Cape River,
Gilbert, Ravenswood
, Etheridge and Charters
Towers
goldfields. Regional pastoral and sugar
industries also expanded and flourished. Townsville's population
was 4000 people in 1882 and grew to 13,000 by 1891.
In 1901
Lord Hopetoun made a
goodwill tour of northern Australia and accepted an invitation to
officially open Townsville's town hall, occasioning the first ever
vice-regal ceremonial unfurling of the Australian national flag.
With Brisbane, in 1902 Townsville was proclaimed a City under
the Local Authorities Act.
Townsville/Thuringowa
The rural land surrounding the growing city was initially managed
by the Thuringowa Road Board, which eventually became the Shire of
Thuringowa. The shire ceded land several times to support
Townsville's expansion.
In the 1986 the Shire became incorporated as
a city, governed by the Thuringowa City Council
.
The cities of Townsville and Thuringowa were amalgamated into the
"new"
Townsville City
Council in March 2008, as part of the Queensland state
government's reform program.
Japanese influence
In 1896,
Japan
established its first Australian consulate in Townsville, primarily to
serve some 4,000 Japanese workers who migrated to work in the
sugar cane, turtle, trochus, beche de mer and pearling industries.
With the introduction of the
White Australia policy, the demand
for Japanese workers decreased, causing the consulate to finally
close in 1908.
Second World War
.jpg/180px-Townsville_bombing_(AWM_150159).jpg)
Two Australian soldiers searching for
fragments of a bomb dropped during the third raid on
Townsville
During
World War II, the city was host
to over 50,000 American and Australian troops and air crew, and it
became a major staging point for battles in the
South West
Pacific. A large United States Armed Forces contingent
supported the war effort from seven airfields and other bases
around the city and in the region.
The first bombing raid on Rabaul
, in Papua
New Guinea, on 23 February 1942 was carried out by six
B-17s based near Townsville. It was common for B-26 Marauders, B-17 Flying Fortresss or B-25 Mitchell bombers to take off on long
range bombing raids from Garbutt air
base
.
Within the town a great deal of construction occurred during World
War II. Apart from rebuilding the air base, the American forces
converted several of the main roads to use as taxiways and
subsidiary airstrips, and maintenance workshops were built along
these roadways. The remains of some of these installations and
airstrips are still evident.
Some of the units based in Townsville were -
General
Douglas MacArthur was
supposed to have had his headquarters in an underground bunker
which still exists under an office building in the suburb of
Garbutt. There have also been references to numerous hidden air
raid bunkers, reports of secret tunnels and similar secret
units.
In July 1942,
three small Japanese air raids were made against Townsville,
which was by then the most important air base in Australia. Several
bombs were dropped in the harbour, near the Garbutt airfield and at
Oonoonba, where bomb craters
are still clearly visible. No lives were lost and structural damage
was minimal, as the Japanese missed their intended target of the
railway and destroyed a palm tree. Although the Japanese aircraft
were intercepted on two of the three raids, no Japanese planes were
shot down.
1970 onwards
On Christmas Eve 1971, Tropical
Cyclone
Althea, a
category
4 cyclone, 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.
Urban layout
Conventional urban development continues to expand west, north and
south into the former rural areas surrounding the city. Inner city
high-density development has also created population growth and
gentrification of the central business district (CBD). One
significant contributor to CBD development was the construction of
a new rail passenger terminal and moving the railway workshops,
releasing prime real estate which formerly belonged to
Queensland Rail for the development of
residential units, retail projects and a new performing arts
centre. The skyline of Townsville's central business district has
undergone dramatic changes over the last few years, with a number
of new highrise buildings, both commercial and residential,
constructed.
In the short term, much of the urban expansion will continue to the
west and the north, in the former City of Thuringowa.
The most significant
of these is North Shore Estate, a new AU$1 billion 5,000-lot housing estate,
located close to the Bruce Highway,
just north of the Bohle
River
. Medium term expansion of Townsville will be
focused on two major urban developments anticipated to start soon.
Rocky Springs, a satellite city to the south of Townsville, is
expected to eventually be home to 55,000 people. Additionally, the
State Government announced it will be offering 270ha of State-owned
land (the former abbatoir reserve), just south of the Bohle River,
for future urban expansion.
Geography
Townsville in 2005.
Townsville lies approximately north of
Brisbane, and south of Cairns
. It lies on the shores of Cleveland Bay,
protected to some degree from the predominately south-east weather.
Cleveland Bay is mostly shallow inshore, with several large beaches
and continually shifting sand bars.
Magnetic Island lies 8 km offshore, to the north of the city
centre.
The
Ross
River flows through the city. Three weirs, fish
stocking and dredging of the river in these reaches has resulted in
a deep, stable and clean waterway used for many recreational
activities.
Thirty kilometres from the mouth (at the
junction of Five Head Creek) is the Ross River Dam
, the major water storage for the urban
areas.
The historic waterfront on
Ross
Creek, site of the original wharves and port facilities, has
some excellent old buildings mixed with the later modern skyline.
However,
the central city is dominated by the mass of red granite called
Castle
Hill
, metres high (just 8 metres short of being a
mountain). There is a lookout at
the summit giving panoramic views of the city and its suburbs,
including Cleveland Bay and Magnetic Island. There are a number of parks scattered
throughout the city, including three botanical gardens - Anderson
Park
, Queens Gardens
and The Palmetum
.
Climate
Townsville is characterised as a
tropical savanna climate (
Köppen climate
classification Aw).
Due to a quirk of its geographical
location, Townsville's winter rainfall in particular is not as high
as elsewhere in the tropics such as Cairns. The winter months are dominated by SE
trade winds and mostly fine weather.
Further north the coastline runs north/south and the trade winds
are lifted to produce rainfall right through the year. Townsville
however lies on a section of coastline that turns east/west, so the
lifting effect is not present. As a result, winter months are
dominated by blue skies, warm days and cool nights—although at
times significant rainfall may occur.
Robinson summarised the climate as follows:
The average annual rainfall is on an average 91 rain days, most of
which falls during the six month "wet season" from November through
April. Due to the "hit or miss" nature of tropical lows and
thunderstorms, there is considerable variation from year to year.
This millennium has seen the wettest year on record, with
precipitation in 2000, and the second driest year on record, when
Townsville received only in 2001 (driest year was 1969 - ).
Rainfall
also varies considerably within the metropolitan area; it typically
ranges from at central Townsville City to at Woodstock
, a southwestern suburb.
_2006AD.png/180px-UA_KDG_Aus-Qld_Townsville_(Aero)_2006AD.png)
The climate of Townsville as measured
and recorded at the Townsville Airport.
December is the warmest month of the year with daily mean maximum
and minimum temperatures being and respectively. July is the
coolest month with daily mean maximum and minimum temperatures
being and . Townsville experiences an annual mean of 8.4 hours of
sunshine per day, averaging 121.7 clear days per year.
Tropical Cyclones
Like most of North Queensland, Townsville is prone to
tropical cyclones. They usually occur
between November and May (the so-called Cyclone Season), forming
mainly out in the Coral Sea, and usually tracking west to the
coast.
Notable cyclones to affect the Townsville
Region have been:
Cyclone Tessi (2000),
Cyclone Sid (1998, in particular damaging The
Strand),
Cyclone Joy (1990),
Cyclone Althea (1971), Cyclone Leonta (1903) and Cyclone Sigma
(1896).
Governance
Townsville is the Northern Queensland administrative centre for
many State and Federal Government agencies, housing the area
offices of many departments and governmental bodies such as
Centrelink and the
Australian Taxation Office.
Local
Townsville is governed by a
City
Council, comprising an independently elected Mayor and 12
Councillors. Following local government reform undertaken by the
Government of Queensland
prior to the March 2008 elections, the previous entities of NQ
Water, The City of Townsville and the City of Thuringowa were
merged. The Councillors do not represent separate divisions
(electorates) within the local government area, but have been
allocated areas of responsibility. Council has indicated that it
may go back to divisions for individual Councillors for the 2012
election.
The Mayor of Townsville is
Les Tyrell
(
Independent), who was
elected on
15 March 2008.
Tyrell was the immediate past Mayor for 17
years of the former local government authority, the City of
Thuringowa
. The previous Mayor of Townsville for 19
years was
Tony Mooney (
Australian Labor Party). All except
one of the current Councillors have declared themselves as
independents, although most were elected as part of "Team Tyrell".
Jenny Hill, the only previous Councillor of the previous Townsville
City to be re-elected, is a member of the
Labor Party.
State
In the
unicameral Queensland Parliament four electorates
cover the Townsville Region:
Federal
The majority of the population of Townsville is represented in the
Australian House of
Representatives by
Peter Lindsay
MP (
Liberal), the
member for the
Division of
Herbert. Historically a swinging seat, it is currently held by
a small margin.
Some of the suburbs on the southern fringe
of the urban area are part of the Division of Dawson and are represented by
James Bidgood MP (Labor), who is based in Mackay
(about 400 km south of Townsville).
Some of the northern suburbs of Townsville, known collectively as
the "Northern Beaches", are included in the
Division of Kennedy which is represented
by
Bob Katter MP (
Independent).
Ian Macdonald,
one of twelve
Senators
elected by Queensland to the
Australian Senate, is based in
Townsville.
Economy
Cranes on Townsville's skyline showing
the growth of the CBD.
The Townsville Regional Economy is widely credited as being the
most diverse of its kind in Australia. Its recent performance has
outstripped neighbouring economies, with growth peaking in 2004-05
at a 12% increase in
Gross
Regional Product over the median term, and 7.8% in 2006-07, for
an average rate of approximately 9% per
financial year.
Tourism has of late
helped in the city's expansion, though its traditional role is an
industrial port (via the Port of
Townsville) for exporting minerals from Mount
Isa
and Cloncurry
, beef and wool from the western plains, as well as sugar and timber from the
coastal regions, trades which continue to influence corporate
growth strategies.
Economic growth in the region was "not restricted to heavy industry
growth attributed to the resources boom under the
Howard Government, [as] the region’s
tourism growth also outstripped neighbouring regions."
- Residents in Townsville have average household incomes about
10% above the state average: in 2003/04 it was closer to the New
South Wales average than the Queensland average.
- The
city remains popular with tourists, and backpackers are
particularly drawn to Magnetic Island and the Great Barrier
Reef. The city has excellent diving and
snorkelling facilities, with a variety of vessels using the port as
a home base for their reef tourism activities.
In 2004, there were 11,762 businesses in Townsville and 4,610 in
Thuringowa. There were still "lots of well-paying job
opportunities" in the city itself come
mid-2008, when the
number of unemployed had risen (nationally) by 100,000 workers,
including "considerable employment requirements" in the trades (280
job vacancies), engineering (117), administration (100), sales (97)
and hospitality (90).
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—and it is currently in strong
contention for an aluminium refinery. 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 Mount 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, Great
Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority
, the large Army base at Lavarack
Barracks
and RAAF Base Townsville
.
Demographics
- For a full list of suburbs in Townsville and the
surrounding region see Suburbs of
Townsville
Townsville has a younger population than the Australian and
Queensland averages. The city has traditionally experienced a high
turnover of people, with the army base and government services
bringing in many short to medium term workers. The region has also
become popular with mine workers on
fly
in/fly out contracts. Major improvements to the lifestyle
infrastructure over the past 10 years has led to a higher living
standard, and consequently the population boom. In 2005-06, the
Townsville Statistical District grew at just over 3 per cent and
was the fifth fastest growing district or division in Australia.
Between
2000 and
2005 the
annual average population growth in Townsville was 2.5%, compared
with 2.2% for Queensland overall.
Population statistics
2006 Census
Category |
Townsville |
Australia |
Occupation - Defence
|
6.1% |
0.3% |
Occupation - School Education
|
4.8% |
4.5% |
Occupation - Hospitals
|
4.0% |
3.3% |
Occupation - Cafes, Restaurants and Takeaway
|
4.0% |
3.6% |
|
|
| Indigenous Persons |
5.7% |
2.3% |
|
|
| English only spoken at home |
89.1% |
78.5% |
| Italian only spoken at home |
0.6% |
1.6% |
| Greek only spoken at home |
0.3% |
1.3% |
| German only spoken at home |
0.3% |
0.4% |
|
|
| Born in Australia |
81.6% |
70.9% |
| Born in England |
2.8% |
4.3% |
| Born in New Zealand |
2.2% |
2.0% |
|
|
| 0–4 years old |
7.1% |
6.3% |
| 5–14 years old |
14.6% |
13.5% |
| 15–24 years old |
16.8% |
13.6% |
| 25–54 years old |
43.1% |
42.2% |
| 55–64 years old |
9.2% |
11.0% |
| 65 years old + |
9.3% |
13.3% |
Medium range population projections
| Projection year |
Townsville |
| 2011 |
191,329 |
| 2016 |
218,660 |
| 2021 |
239,619 |
| 2026 |
255,986 |
| 2031 |
270,500 |
Historical yearly population statistics
year
|
Townsville
|
category of
population estimate |
| 2005 |
148 767 (+3%) |
ABS
preliminary |
| 2004 |
144 417 (+2.6%) |
ABS
revised |
| 2003 |
140 761 (+2.4%) |
ABS revised |
| 2002 |
137 507 (+2.6%) |
ABS revised |
| 2001 |
134 073
+9.5% since 1996 |
figures from 2001 Census |
| 2000 |
131 100 |
ABS
final |
| 1999 |
127 873 |
ABS final |
| 1996 |
122 415
|
figures from 1996 Census |
| 1991 |
114 063 |
figures from 1991 Census |
| 1988 |
110 300 |
|
Education
- See List of schools in
Townsville.
There are over 60
private and State
schools of primary and secondary education within the
Townsville area.
Townsville Grammar School
is the oldest co-educational school on the
Australian mainland.
James Cook University
James Cook University (JCU) is a
public university based in Townsville.
Established in 1970, the main campuses is
located in the suburb of Douglas
. JCU was the second university in Queensland
and the first in
North Queensland.
The University has a strong and internationally recognised
expertise in marine & tropical biology. The
JCU
Medical School was established in 1999 and is linked with the
adjacent tertiary-level
Townsville
Hospital. The Veterinary Sciences undergraduate facility is the
newest in Australia. In 2007 the University announced a billion
dollar expansion, aimed at completely redeveloping the University
campuses, facilities and attracting more students to JCU.
Vocational education
The city
is home to the Barrier
Reef Institute of TAFE - a Technical and
Further Education College, a campus of the Australian
Agricultural College Corporation and a new Australian Technical College –
North Queensland campus which opened in 2007 in the Douglas suburb.
Culture, Events and Festivals
The
Australian
Festival of Chamber Music is an international
chamber music festival held over ten days each
July in Townsville, North Queensland. The festival has been running
since 1991, and attracts many acclaimed international and
Australian musicians. Townsville also has its own orchestra, the
Barrier Reef Orchestra, which
presents concerts throughout North Queensland.
The Townsville
Entertainment Centre
, seating over 5000 people, is host to many national
and international music shows, as well as sporting and trade
shows.
The region has many renowned festivals, many which celebrate the
international heritage of many that call North Queensland home. The
Annual Greek and Italian Festivals are popular with the locals and
tourists alike.
The Townsville South hotel and restaurant
strip hosts an annual Palmer Street Jazz Festival, as does nearby
Magnetic
Island (The Great Tropical Jazz Party).
The
Stable on
the Strand
is celebrated each Christmas.
The Townsville Civic Theatre is North Queensland's premier cultural
facility. Since its opening in 1978, the Theatre has been a centre
of entertainment and performing arts, providing an environment to
further develop the performing arts in Townsville and the North.
The
Tropic Sun Theatre
Company is a professional theatre company based in Townsville.
Tropic Sun showcases the talents of local actors, designers,
directors and playwrights. It presents four major shows a
year.
The
Perc Tucker Regional
Gallery is the public art gallery of Townsville. Located on the
eastern end of Flinders Mall, the Gallery focuses on artwork
relevant to North Queensland and the Tropics. Every second
September the gallery presents sculpture artworks and art festival
called Strand
Ephemera, exhibited over the
two kilometre beachfront strip.
The city has many restaurants, concentrated on Palmer Street in
South Townsville, Flinders Street and to a lesser extend along the
Strand. The city also has a vibrant pub and night-club scene, many
of them located in Flinders Street East. Local and national music
groups can often be found performing live in these venues.
Media and communications
Townsville is the media centre for North Queensland, with 5
commercial radio stations, North Queensland ABC radio station, 3
commercial television stations, one regional daily newspaper and
one community weekly newspaper (both owned by News Ltd). There are
no local Sunday papers although The Sunday Mail (Qld) - based in
Brisbane - does have a North Queensland edition.
Sport and recreation
Townsville hosts several sporting teams that participate in
national competitions. These include the
North Queensland Cowboys (
National Rugby League), the
Townsville Crocodiles, (
National Basketball
League), the
Townsville Fire
(
Women's National
Basketball League) and the
North Queensland Fury, a new
A-League football
team.
Rugby League is the dominant
football code in North Queensland and the Cowboys are therefore the
highest profile team.
The
Dairy
Farmers Stadium
is the home ground for the Cowboys and the
Fury. Built in 1995 the stadium has a capacity of 30,302.
Dairy
Farmers Stadium was an official venue the 2003 Rugby Union World Cup, with
three matches played in Townsville. Townsville hosted the
popular
Japanese
national rugby union team. The
Super 14
rugby union team
Queensland Reds have also played at Dairy
Farmers Stadium.
Tony Ireland Stadium
, in the suburb of Thuringowa, has an
international standard cricket and AFL stadium.
Townsville also hosts three Touch Football associations. The
Townsville/Castle Hill Touch Association (TCHTA) conducts
competitions annually at its grounds at Queens Park, Townsville.
Thuringowa Touch Association (TTA) also
conducts competitions at Greenwood Park, Kirwan
.
AFL Townsville operate a regional
Australian rules football league in the region.
Jake Spencer is the first local
player to play in the
AFL.
Several Australian Test and ODI cricket players have come out of
Townsville including current fast bowler
Mitchell Johnson and also
former Australian squad member
Andrew
Symonds who both honed their skills as juniors at Wanderers
Cricket Club.
A
V8 Supercars race track is located in
Townsville, and the inaugural annual
Townsville 400 was held in July
2009.
Infrastructure
Health
Townsville Hospital from the Douglas
Arterial Road
Townsville is within Queensland Health's "Townsville Health
Service District", which also includes Ingham
and Palm Island
. The primary public health facility for the
region is
Townsville Hospital.
It is a
teaching hospital located next to the James Cook
University School of Medicine in Douglas and is the largest hospital in Australia outside of
a capital city. It services communities all the way north up
to Papua New
Guinea
. Townsville Hospital has 460 beds with
services. The Hospital employs approximately 72 full-time
specialist staff and 48 visiting specialists.
There are
four other public health campuses in Townsville: the Kirwan
Health Campus
, the Magnetic Island Health Service Centre,, the
North Ward Health Campus and the Townsville Hospital Dentist,
located in North
Ward.
In
addition there are two private hospitals in Townsville, the
Mater
Hospital
and the Mater Women's and
Children's Hospital.
Transport
Most Townsville residents travel by car through the system of roads
and
motorways. Townsville is the
intersection point of the the A1 (
Bruce
Highway), and the A6 (
Flinders Highway National
Highways. The
Townsville Ring
Road will eventually become part of the new A1 route bypassing
the urban areas of the city. Townsville's public transport system
consists of bus services operated by
Sunbus, providing regular services between
many parts of the city.
Public transport is also available from the
CBD to Bushland
Beach
. Regular ferry and vehicular barge services operate to Magnetic Island and Palm Island.
Rail
services from Brisbane pass through Townsville and continue through
to Cairns, including the regular Tilt Train service between Brisbane and
Cairns. Townsville is a major destination and generator of
rail freight services. The
North Coast railway
line, operated by
Queensland
Rail, meets the Western line in the city's south.. Container
operations are also common and the products of the local nickel and
copper refineries, as well as minerals from the western line (Mount
Isa), are transported to the port via trains. The
Port of Townsville has bulk handling
facilities for importing cement, nickel ore and fuel, and for
exporting sugar and 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.
The city
is served by Townsville International
Airport, although it has not handled regular international
flights since 2002. The Airport handles direct flights to
Brisbane, Sydney
, Melbourne
, Gold Coast,
and Canberra
as well as to regional destinations such as
Cairns, Mount Isa, Rockhampton and
Mackay.
Defence facilities
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—the
1st Battalion, Royal
Australian Regiment and the
2nd Battalion, Royal
Australian Regiment—and a
cavalry
contingent from
'B'
Squadron, 3rd/4th Cavalry Regiment. It also 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, co-located 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 (including amphibious) and
supply support. Along with this there is also the 11th Combat
Service Support Battalion and the 3rd Combat Engineer
Regiment.
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. There is also two active cadet units, 130 ACU
located within Heatley Secondary College and 15 ACU located at
Ignatius Park College.
As with the Army, the
Royal
Australian Air Force also maintains a presence in Townsville.
RAAF Base
Townsville, which is located in the suburb of Garbutt, houses
the DHC-4 Caribou
aircraft from No.
38 Squadron RAAF. This
detachment provides 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
C-17 Globemaster III and the Russian
Antonov transport aircraft.
Townsville is also the staging point for the movement of men and
materials to the remote parts of Northern Australia and many
overseas locations.
Notable people
- Libby Trickett (née Lenton),
Australian Olympic Swimmer
- Laurie Lawrence, Australian
Olympic swimming coach
- Gorden Tallis, former Australian
Rugby League player
- Scott Donald, Australian Rugby
League player
- Aaron Payne, Australian Rugby League
player
- Gene Miles, former Australian Rugby
League player
- Mitchell Johnson,
Australian cricketer
- James Hopes, Australian
cricketer
- Pud Thurlow, Australian test
cricketer in the 1930s
- Jake Spencer,
Australian Football League player
- Natalie Cook, Olympic beach
volleyball player
- Tony David, Professional darts
champion
- Rob Hammond, Australian Field Hockey
Player
- Sir Lawrence Wackett,
Australian aircraft industry pioneer
- Air Vice Marshal Ellis Wackett,
Australian military aviation pioneer
- Clem Christesen, journalist and
editor of the Australian literary magazine, Meanjin
- Ralph Douglas Kenneth Reye, Australian pathologist who first described Reye's syndrome.
- Rick Farley, Australian activist for
Indigenous Australians rights and former CEO National Farmers
Federation
- William Heatley, former Liberal
senator
- Natalie Weir, Australian
choreographer
- James Cannan CB, CMG, DSO,
former Australian Major General
- Jarrod Bannister, Australian
athlete and Olympian
- Renita Farrell-Garard,
Australian Hockey player and dual Olympic gold medalist
- Madge Ryan, Hollywood film actress
- Rachael Finch, Miss Universe Australia 2009 and 3rd
Runner-up at Miss Universe
2009
References
-
http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/article/2009/09/09/77831_business_desk.html#
- Department of Tourism, Regional Development and
Industry
- NQ-Townsville The Life
- Townsville - New Projects Australia - Investment
Property Homes, Townsville, Cairns, Mackay, Toowoomba
- , Townsville Enterprise Limited. Retrieved on 2008-09-01.
- Craig Stack Retail heartbeat Supply in twin cities well
above general average Townsville Bulletin, Investor,
published 20
September 2006 p. 21
- Tony Raggatt Retail giants eye boom city
Townsville Bulletin published 2 December 2006 p2
- School of
Marine and Tropical Biology, James Cook University
- School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences Overview,
James Cook University
- James Cook University: Discovery Rise
- ABC News: James Cook Uni plans Townsville campus
facelift
- Australian
Festival of Chamber Music Official Webpage
- Townsville Council: Perc Tucker Gallery
- Austadiums.com: Dairy Farmers Stadium
- SportingPulse Homepage for Townsville Castle Hill Touch
Association
- SportingPulse Homepage for Thuringowa Touch
Association
- Clubhouse opens doors to sports fans
- Kirwan Health Campus
- Magnetic Island Health Service Centre
- North Ward Health Campus
- Townsville's
Hermit Park Bus Service
- Sunferries Official Website: Magnetic Island
Timetable
- Fantasea Official Website: Magnetic Island
Timetable
- Railways of Townsville Singleton,
C.C. Australian Railway Historical Society
Bulletin, July, 1954 pp77-84
- Port of Townsville website
- GHD.com.au: Building and Structures
- Townsville Airport Homepage
- Townsville Airport Route Map
- http://www.armyintownsville.net/
- Army Aviation Units: 5 Aviation Regiment
- Defence.gov.au: Forces Command - 3rd Brigade
Community: Units that Support 3 Bdef
- Defence.com.au: Cadet Units
- [1]
-
http://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=672034781582665;res=IELENG
- Australian Dictionary of Biography: Reye, Ralph
Douglas Kenneth (1912 - 1977)
- Allmovies: Madge Ryan
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