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

Townsville is Australia's largest

urban centre north of the Sunshine Coast, with a population of 180,820 as of June 2018.[1] Considered the
unofficial capital of North Queensland by locals, Townsville hosts a significant number of governmental,
community and major business administrative offices for the northern half of the state.[4]
Part of the larger local government area of the City of Townsville,[5] it is in the dry tropics region of
Queensland, adjacent to the central section of the Great Barrier Reef.[6] The city is also a major industrial
centre, home to one of the world's largest zinc refineries, a nickel refinery and many other similar activities.
As of December 2020, $30M operations to expand the Port of Townsville are underway, which involve
channel widening and installation of a 70-tonne Liebherr Super Post Panamax Ship-to-Shore crane, to
allow much larger cargo and passenger ships to utilise the port.[7][8] It is an increasingly important port due
to its proximity to Asia and major trading partners such as China.
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; Castle Hill or as it was originally known
Cootharinga, the most prominent landmark of the area and a popular place for exercise; The Townsville
Sports Reserve; and Magnetic Island, a large neighbouring island, the vast majority of which is national
park.

Early history
Aboriginal peoples such as the Wulgurukaba, Bindal, Girrugubba, Warakamai and Nawagi originally
inhabited the Townsville area.[9][10] The Wulgurukaba claim to be the traditional owners of the Townsville city
area; the Bindal had a claim struck out by the Federal Court of Australia in 2005.[11]
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(al) Island.[12] In 1819,
Captain Phillip Parker King and botanist Alan Cunningham were the first Europeans to record a local
landing.[12]
In 1846, James Morrill was shipwrecked from the Peruvian, living in the Townsville area among the Bindal
people for 17 years before deciding to return to British society when the frontier of colonisation came to the
region.[13][12]
In 1860, George Elphinstone Dalrymple led a maritime expedition to the region from Brisbane. The
expedition sailed to Cleveland Bay, finding a very numerous Aboriginal population. They landed on the
shore near to where the modern city of Townsville now stands and met with a number of Aboriginal people,
giving them biscuit and tobacco. The Aboriginal people started to touch and feel all the expedition
members, and began "smacking their lips", which Dalrymple interpreted as an indication that they wanted
to eat them. Another group of Aboriginal people came down, attacking them with a shower of stones and
spears. Dalrymple and his men "were necessitated" to fired upon them, "repulsing them with loss." They
landed again near to Cape Pallarenda to obtain surveys from the hilltops but decided to descend to their
awaiting dinghies as they noticed residents of three Aboriginal camps below were moving in their direction.
These people were yelling and dancing "in a very hostile manner" and Dalrymple felt obliged to fire upon
them. Dalrymple's group then made an "orderly retreat" to the dinghies halting at intervals to fire upon
those throwing spears. The crew which had remained upon the Spitfire had seen about eight armed
Aboriginal men in canoes approaching them from nearby Magnetic Island in an apparent attempt to board
the ship. They were repulsed by a discharge of the brass gun.[14]

Establishment
The Burdekin River's seasonal flooding made the establishment of a seaport north of the river essential to
the nascent inland cattle industry.[15] John Melton Black of Woodstock Station, an employee of Sydney
entrepreneur and businessman Robert Towns, dispatched Andrew Ball, Mark Watt Reid and a detachment
of 8 troopers of the Native Police under the command of John Marlow to search for a suitable site.[12] 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.[12]
Edward Kennedy, a Native Police officer accompanying the group, recalled how his "boys" (the Aboriginal
troopers) chased four or five local tribesmen into the ocean. Kennedy then stated that he "left the "boys" in
the water, pumping lead and hurling derisive cries at them, neither of which seemed to reach their mark". A
member of the expedition who was from a town in the south accidentally shot dead an elderly Aboriginal
man. He said that he thought he was being stalked by an alligator. On the return journey to Port Denison,
the group "dispersed" another Aboriginal camp in reprisal for the killing of a shepherd. After the fighting,
the "boys" rounded up around 12 women and each took turns based on their rank in selecting one. "In five
minutes, each had chosen their spouse and the ceremony was complete."[16]
The next group of colonists, 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.[12] Townsville was declared a municipality in February 1866, with John Melton Black elected as its
first Mayor.[12] Townsville developed rapidly as the major port and service centre for the Cape River,
Gilbert, Ravenswood, Etheridge and Charters Towers goldfields.[15] Regional pastoral and sugar industries
also expanded and flourished.

Importation of South Sea Islander labour

Main article: Blackbirding
On 8 July 1866 Robert Towns imported the first boatload of South Sea Islanders into Townsville to labour
on the cane and cotton farms. They numbered 56 and arrived on the Blue Bell which had brought them
from the Loyalty Islands and the New Hebrides.[17] Charges were made against Henry Ross Lewin, the
recruiter for Robert Towns, that some of the Islanders had been kidnapped to work on the plantations.[18] In
1867, a magisterial enquiry was set up into the death of an Islander working on one of Towns' plantations.
A pharmacist attending was of the opinion the death was caused by a lack of proper nourishment, the
Islanders receiving only cornmeal for food. Other evidence was given by employees of the plantation
company who claimed the labourers were treated well and a verdict of death by natural causes was
declared.[19]