Townsville

Townsville, a town of Elphinstone county, Queensland, Australia, 870 m. direct N.W. of Brisbane. Pop. (1901), 12,717. It is the seat of the Anglican bishop of North Queensland and has a cathedral and several handsome buildings, including the supreme court and the custom-house. It is picturesquely situated partly on the slopes of Castle Hill and Melton Hill, and partly on the banks of Ross Creek, which is spanned by the Victoria Bridge, a swing bridge 550 ft. in length, worked by hydraulic power. The tidal harbour is enclosed by stone breakwaters, and large vessels enter and load frozen meat direct from the refrigerator cars. The port is an outlet for a wide area of pastoral country and for several goldfields, and has regular communication with all ports north and south by lines of steamers. The immigration barracks on Ross Island have accommodation for five hundred persons. The railway station is the terminus of the Northern line, which extends 236 m. to Hughenden. Townsville was founded in 1864 by John Medwin Black and named after his partner Captain Towns. A municipal charter was granted in 1866.