Townsville

Townsville is a city on the coast of north Queensland, Australia, beside Cleveland Bay and below the red granite of Castle Hill. Robert Towns, a Sydney merchant who paid for the founding of the port, gave it his name.

The Bindal and Wulgurukaba peoples lived on the coast and the islands of the bay. John Melton Black and Andrew Ball chose the site at the mouth of Ross Creek in 1864, and the port grew quickly when gold was found inland at Charters Towers and Ravenswood. Sugar cane, beef and later minerals from the mines of Mount Isa went out through its wharves. James Cook University, named after the navigator, opened in the city in the 1970s and is known for its marine science.

Sun Metals refines zinc at its plant on the southern edge of the city, and copper from the mines of the northwest is refined at the Stuart works. The Port of Townsville ships zinc, copper, lead and sugar, and imports fertilizer and cars for the north. Cattle stations of the dry country west of the city send their beef through Townsville meatworks.

The Strand, a beachfront promenade with palms, rock pools and a water park, runs along the bay. Reef HQ, the aquarium of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, keeps a living coral reef in a large tank. Magnetic Island, a short ferry ride across the bay, owes its name to James Cook, whose compass seemed to go wrong as he sailed past in 1770. The Museum of Tropical Queensland shows objects raised from HMS Pandora, the ship sent to find the mutineers of the Bounty, which lies on the outer reef.