34 Facts About Townsville

1.

Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia.

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2.

Part of the larger local government area of the City of Townsville, it is in the dry tropics region of Queensland, adjacent to the central section of the Great Barrier Reef.

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3.

Townsville said that he thought he was being stalked by an alligator.

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4.

Townsville agreed to provide ongoing financial assistance to the new settlement and Townsville was named in his honour.

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5.

Townsville was declared a municipality in February 1866, with John Melton Black elected as its first Mayor.

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6.

Townsville developed rapidly as the major port and service centre for the Cape River, Gilbert, Ravenswood, Etheridge and Charters Towers goldfields.

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7.

In July 1942, three small Japanese air raids were conducted against Townsville, which was by then the most important air base in Australia.

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8.

The royal party had a leisurely cruise to Townsville, taking four days to arrive after their departure from Mackay.

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9.

In 1993 the New South Wales Rugby League announced that a team from Townsville would be admitted to the expanded, nation-wide competition, and the North Queensland Cowboys made their debut in the 1995 ARL season.

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10.

In February 2019, Townsville experienced a major flood event, which caused five deaths.

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11.

Notable cyclones to affect the Townsville Region have been: Cyclone Yasi, Cyclone Tessi, Cyclone Sid, Cyclone Joy, Cyclone Althea, Cyclone Leonta, and Cyclone Sigma .

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12.

Townsville has offices of many State and Federal Government agencies, such as Centrelink and the Australian Taxation Office.

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13.

Townsville's was re-elected in the 2020 Queensland local government elections.

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14.

The majority of the population of Townsville is represented in the Australian House of Representatives by Phillip Thompson of the Liberal National Party, reelected as the member for the Division of Herbert at the 2022 Australian federal election.

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15.

Some northern suburbs of Townsville, known collectively as the "Northern Beaches", are included in the Division of Kennedy which is represented by Bob Katter, who is based in Mount Isa about 900 kilometres west of Townsville.

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16.

Townsville has several large public assets as a result of its relative position and population.

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17.

Townsville has a younger population than the Australian and Queensland averages.

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18.

The University quickly felt the demand for a face-to-face teaching presence in Townsville and has since opened a purpose built campus in the city offering many on-campus courses including nursing, paramedic science, business and psychology as well as supporting growing numbers of online students.

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19.

Townsville has its own orchestra, the Barrier Reef Orchestra, which presents concerts throughout North Queensland.

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20.

Townsville is the media centre for North Queensland, with four commercial and five narrowcast radio stations, North Queensland ABC radio station, three commercial television stations, one regional daily newspaper and one community weekly newspaper .

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21.

Townsville was a host city for the preliminary rounds of the men's and women's Basketball competition for the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

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22.

Townsville has produced a number of Wallabies in past including Peter Grigg and Sam Scott-Young.

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23.

AFL Townsville operate a regional Australian rules football league in the region.

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24.

Several Australian Test and ODI cricketers have come out of Townsville including fast bowler Mitchell Johnson, Andrew Symonds and James Hopes.

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25.

In 2012 Townsville hosted under 19 cricket World Cup preliminary matches, semi finals and the final featuring Australia and India.

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26.

Townsville Hospital is a 580-bed university teaching hospital in the suburb of Douglas.

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27.

The Townsville Hospital was formally located in North Ward whose main building serves an example of the Streamline Moderne style of architecture.

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28.

Townsville is the intersection point of the A1, and the A6 National Highways.

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29.

Townsville has a public transport system contracted to TransLink, which provides regular services between many parts of the city.

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30.

Construction of railways in the area of Townsville started as early as 1879, and the first railway line was inaugurated in 1880.

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31.

Townsville is a major destination and generator of rail freight services.

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32.

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.

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33.

RAAF Base Townsville, which is located in the suburb of Garbutt, houses the Beech KingAir 350 aircraft from No 38 Squadron RAAF.

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34.

Townsville is the staging point for the movement of personnel and materials to the remote parts of Northern Australia and many overseas locations.

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