Townsville

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 2009–2010 estimated population of 185,768. 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.

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(al) Island. In 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 4,000 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 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 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
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 –
 * No. 3 Fighter Sector RAAF, Wulguru & North Ward
 * 1 Wireless Unit, Pimlico & Stuart & Roseneath
 * North Eastern Area Command HQ, Townsville, Sturt St (now the Federation building)
 * Castle Hill, Townsville underground tunnels & bunkers
 * Green St. Bunker, West End, Sidney St West End, Project 81 (now the SES building)

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 500 lb 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.

Two very significant hotels on Flinders Street were lost, Buchanan's Hotel (regarded by architectural historians as Australia's most significant building in the Filigree style) to fire in 1982 and the Alexandra Hotel to demolition in the 1970s.

Eddie Mabo, who later became famous for his involvement in overturning the legal fiction of terra nullius, worked as a gardener at James Cook University in the 1970-1980s. It was here where he first learned of the implications of the terra nullius doctrine and decided to take on the Australian government. The James Cook University Douglas campus library is now named after him.

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 A$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 lies approximately 1300 km north of Brisbane, and 350 km 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 such as waterskiing, fishing and rowing. 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, 292 m 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). Owing 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:

Rain is heavy, though [usually short], so that even in the wet season there is usually a high proportion of bright sunshine. This attracts many [younger workers]; but the high temperatures, brightness, lack of moisture in winter, and the prospect of flooding in summer have a profound impact on all the aspects of life and landscape. Special techniques are required for successful farming, sub-tropical crops are important items of production, pastures grow only in summer, and transport may be dislocated when it is needed most. Since the onset of white settlement, pastoralists and farmers of the North-East Coastlands Region have faced problems for which there are no answers in the agriculture practices of temperate lands [but intensive labour].

The average annual rainfall is 1143 mm on an average 91 rain days, most of which falls during the six month "wet season" from November through April. Because of 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 2400 mm precipitation in 2000, and the second driest year on record, when Townsville received only 467 mm in 2001 (driest year was 1969 – 464 mm). Rainfall also varies considerably within the metropolitan area; it typically ranges from 1136 mm at central Townsville City to 853 mm at Woodstock, a southwestern suburb.

December is the warmest month of the year with daily mean maximum and minimum temperatures being 31.4 °C and 24 °C respectively. July is the coolest month with daily mean maximum and minimum temperatures being 25 °C and 13.5 °C. 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 Yasi (2011),  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 amalgamated. The Councillors do not represent separate divisions (known as wards) within the local government area, but have been self-allocated areas of responsibility. Council may go back to divisions for individual Councillors for the 2012 election depending on the State Government.

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:
 * Electoral district of Burdekin (southern suburbs): Rosemary Menkens MP (Liberal National Party of Queensland) – Opposition Shadow Minister for Environment, Multiculturalism and Women
 * Electoral district of Mundingburra (central/southern suburbs): Hon Lindy Nelson-Carr MP (Australian Labor Party)
 * Electoral district of Thuringowa (western/northern suburbs): Hon Craig Wallace MP (Australian Labor Party) – Government Minister for Transport and Main Roads and Minister Assisting the Premier in North Queensland
 * Electoral district of Townsville (CBD + Magnetic & Palm Islands): Mandy Johnstone MP (Australian Labor Party)

Federal
The majority of the population of Townsville is represented in the Australian House of Representatives by Ewen Jones (Liberal National Party), elected as the member for the Division of Herbert at the recent Federal elections on 21 August 2010. Historically a swinging seat, it is only 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 George Christensen, representing the Liberal National Party, 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 (Liberal National Party) is one of twelve Senators elected by Queensland to the Australian Senate, is based in Townsville.

Economy
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). Townsville hosted the head office of $4 billion financial advice company Storm Financial, until its collapse in early 2009.

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 as a result of 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
Medium range population projections

Historical yearly population statistics

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 campus 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 Townsville City Council and Townsville Intercultural Centre annually organises Cultural Fest in mid August in the Strand. The Cultural Fest showcases the cultural diversity of the city and dance, food, and music from different ethnic groups in the region bring the city to life.

The North Queensland Australian Computer Society based in Townsville hold monthly events relating to advancing computer knowledge.

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. Media distributed on the World Wide Web include the Townsville Bulletin.

Sport and recreation
Townsville hosts several sporting teams that participate in national competitions. These include the North Queensland Cowboys (National Rugby League), the Townsville Fire (Women's National Basketball League) and the Townsville Crocodiles, (National Basketball League)

The Dairy Farmers Stadium is the home ground for the Cowboys. 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.

Townsville also has a 1/4 mile dragstrip, Go cart and motorcross track.

Rowing is also available at Riverway Rowing Club and caters to competitive masters, social, learn to row and school based rowing programs. 2010 saw Riverway claim their first Queensland Club Premiership.

Health


The Townsville Hospital is a 580 bed University teaching hospital in the suburb of Douglas, Townsville. It is co-located with the James Cook University School of Medicine. The hospital caters for the city of Townsville, as well as people in the north as far as Thursday Island and Papua New Guinea, west to Mt Isa and south to Sarina. During the year 2010, the hospital admitted 54,941 patients, and had 60,676 presentations to the emergency department. The hospital is also the major tertiary maternity centre, with 2,308 babies delivered in 2010.

The Townsville Hospital is currently undergoing a $437 million dollar redevelopment, delivering an additional 100 beds, a four storey expanded Emergency Department, expanded Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit, and expansion of oncology services. The Emergency Department will be the largest in Queensland.

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
Townsville is the intersection point of the A1 (Bruce Highway), and the A6 (Flinders Highway National Highways. The Townsville Ring Road, planned to become part of the re-routed A1 route bypass, circumnavigates the city.

Townsville has a public transport system contracted to Sunbus Townsville, which provides 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.

The Tilt Train service connects Townsville to Brisbane in the south and Cairns in the north. 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. The Airport handles direct domestic flights to Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Gold Coast, and Canberra as well as direct regional flights to destinations such as Cairns, Mount Isa, Rockhampton and Mackay. As of Dec 2010 the city will again have direct international flights, initially to Bali Denpasar Airport. Airlines currently servicing the airport include Qantas, Virgin Blue, Jetstar, Regional Express, Qantaslink, Strategic, and Skytrans.

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 Beech KingAir 350 aircraft from No. 38 Squadron RAAF. This unit operated the venerable DHC-4 Caribou aircraft until late 2009, however has re-equipped in the short term whilst protracted analysis for a more appropriate Battlefield Transport and Utility aircraft continues. 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 personnel and materials to the remote parts of Northern Australia and many overseas locations.

Notable people

 * Julian Assange, Editor-in-chief of Wikileaks
 * Jarrod Bannister, Australian athlete and Olympian
 * James Cannan CB, CMG, DSO, former Australian Major General
 * Clem Christesen, journalist and editor of the Australian literary magazine, Meanjin
 * Natalie Cook, Olympic beach volleyball player
 * Tony David, Professional darts champion
 * Billy Doolan, Australian Indigenous Artist
 * Rick Farley, Australian activist for Indigenous Australians rights and former CEO National Farmers Federation
 * Renita Farrell-Garard, Australian Hockey player and dual Olympic gold medalist
 * Rachael Finch, Miss Universe Australia 2009 and 3rd Runner-up at Miss Universe 2009
 * Rob Hammond, Australian Field Hockey Player
 * Bill Heatley, former Liberal senator
 * James Hopes, Australian cricketer
 * Mitchell Johnson, Australian cricketer
 * Laurie Lawrence, Australian Olympic swimming coach
 * Gene Miles, former Australian Rugby League player
 * Greg Norman, former Golf Number 1
 * Aaron Payne, Australian Rugby League player
 * Ralph Douglas Kenneth Reye, Australian pathologist who first described Reye's syndrome.
 * Madge Ryan, Hollywood film actress
 * Jake Spencer, Australian Football League player
 * Patricia Staunton, Australian magistrate and former NSW politician
 * Gorden Tallis, former Australian Rugby League player
 * Libby Trickett (née Lenton), Australian Olympic Swimmer
 * Pud Thurlow, Australian test cricketer in the 1930s
 * John Vause, CNN reporter and anchor
 * Sir Lawrence Wackett, Australian aircraft industry pioneer
 * Air Vice Marshal Ellis Wackett, Australian military aviation pioneer
 * Natalie Weir, Australian choreographer