Townsville Attractions  


Anzac Park
A War Memorial commemorating the Battle of the Coral Sea . Townsville was one of the few places in Australia to be bombed during the Second World War.

Castle Hill lookout
A fine view of the whole city.

Museum of Tropical Queensland
One of the main exhibits are items salvaged from the wreck of H.M.S. Pandora. The ship foundered after striking the northern edge of the Great Barrier Reef in 1791. It is famous as the vessel which had pursued the Bounty mutineers and captured fourteen of them in Tahiti . Four of the mutineers died in the shipwreck of the Pandora, as did 31 crew members. The remainder were rescued eventually and tried in England , where six were sentenced to death and four acquitted. Of the six convicted, three were actually hanged.

The wreck of the Pandora was discovered in 1977, lying in 33 metres of water 120 kilometres east of Cape York , and provides an insight into the great age of maritime exploration.

National Trust Heritage Centre
Houses from the 19th and 20th Century showing early Townsville life located at 7 Castling Street .

North Queensland Military Museum
Located at Jezzine Army Barracks, a collection of military artefacts at Kissing Point.

Kissing Point
At the end of the Strand , at Kissing Point, are a rock pool, another swimming enclosure, and a lookout at the top of the headland there.

Reef HQ
A large land-based living coral reef system in the world.

Strand
A promenade and beach with safe swimming enclosures. The Strand is lined with restaurants, cafes, bars.

Townsville Maritime Museum
The maritime history of northern Queensland located at 68 Palmer Street .

Around Townsville

Burdekin & Ayr
85 kilometres south of Townsville with rivers, creeks and estuaries. View the farmlands and wetlands from the lookouts of Mount Inkerman and Mount Kelly .

Cardwell
Situated on the waterfront at the Northern entrance to the Hinchinbrook Channel, an old town well known for fishing.

Charters Towers
Charters Towers lies 135 kilometres west of Townsville. The prosperity of Charters Towers was based on gold. It was discovered here by an aboriginal boy, Jupiter Mosman, in 1871 and a gold rush began. In the 1920s, the crash came. Although Charters Towers suffered from the adverse economic conditions it survived the hard times. There has now been a revival, in the form of a second gold boom. The tailings from the old mines are being reworked . There are several fine buildings in Charters Towers .

Hinchinbrook Island
A large national park island accessible by ferry from Port Hinchinbrook. Separated from the mainland by the narrow Hinchinbrook Channel. Access is with Hinchinbrook Island Ferries from Cardwell.

Ingham
Ingham north of Townsville with the Wallaman Falls , Australia 's largest sheer drop waterfall and the Tyto Wetlands. 

Magnetic Island
Magnetic Island is eight kilometres from Townsville. More than half of Magnetic Island is a National Park. Captain Cook named the island when he sailed past on 6th June 1770 as his compass would not work well. On the north-western tip of the island is West Point . Along the eastern side of the island, one passes through Nelly Bay and Arcadia before reaching Horseshoe Bay on the northern shore.

The passenger ferry arrives at Picnic Bay , which is the southern tip of the island. The passenger ferry operates from two points on the city side of the river. The terminal is in Flinders Street , just beyond the end of Flinders Street Mall. There is a second pick-up point closer to the mouth of the river, on the breakwater along the road to the Casino. The vehicular ferry operates from the other side of the river and sails to Geoffrey Bay , adjacent to Arcadia , which may be a more convenient location.

Orpheus Island
Reachable by sea plan or launch form Lucinda or Taylor 's Beach. The island is a national park.

Ravenswood
An old gold mining village 130 kilometres south-west of Townsville. Around the countryside are found are relics of the gold mining activities.

 

 

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