Townsville is a city adjacent to the central section of the Great Barrier Reef being Australia's largest urban centre north of the Sunshine Coast. Like most of North Queensland, Townsville is prone to tropical cyclones.
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.
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. 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. The first bombing raid on Rabaul, in Papua New Guinea, on 23 February 1942 was carried out by six B-17s based near Townsville.
Today, The Australian Army maintains a very strong presence in the north of Australia. The Army's 3rd Brigade is based at Lavarack Barracks in Townsville.
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; The Townsville Sports Reserve; and Magnetic Island, a large neighbouring island, the vast majority of which is national park.