Local government area in Queensland, Australia

The City of Townsville is an Australian local government area (LGA) located in North Queensland, Australia. It encompasses the city of Townsville, together with the surrounding rural areas, to the south are the communities of Alligator Creek, Woodstock and Reid River, and to the north are Northern Beaches and Paluma, and also included is Magnetic Island. It currently has a population of 186,757 residents,[1] and is the 28th-largest LGA in Australia.

History [ edit ]

Prior to 2008, the new City of Townsville was an entire area of two previous and distinct local government areas:

the former City of Townsville ;

; and the City of Thuringowa.

Townsville's Town Hall 1895 with, from left to right, Aldermen T. Enright, E.J. Forrest, D.F. Treehy (Townclerk), P. Lillis (Rate Receiver), J. N. Parkes, B.P. McDougall (Accountant)

The City of Townsville was first established as the Borough of Townsville under the Municipal Institutions Act 1864 on 15 February 1866. The surrounding rural area, which was given the name Thuringowa Division, was established on 11 November 1879 as one of 74 divisions around Queensland under the Divisional Boards Act 1879. On 31 March 1903, Thuringowa Division became the Shire of Thuringowa and Townsville was granted city status under the Local Authorities Act 1902, the ancestor of the current Local Government Act 1993.

The borders of the Townsville municipality were expanded to keep pace with urban growth in 1882, 1918, 1936, 1958 and 1964 – the purpose of expanding the borders was to keep urban and rural administrations separate.[3] This state government convention changed under the Bjelke-Peterson government and the borders between the two local governments became static. By 1986 the Shire of Thuringowa had grown to a population of 27,000 and was declared a city.[3]

In 1939, Fred Paterson stood successfully as an alderman for the Townsville City Council, becoming the first member of the Communist Party to win such an office in Australia. He was then re-elected in 1943. The same year, he stood for the federal seat of Herbert, but was narrowly defeated. He then contested and won the Bowen seat in the Queensland Parliament, holding it from 1944 until 1950.

A succession of endorsed Labor Party mayors and majority councillors held a continuous civic government from 1976–2008, this was the longest continuous Labor administration in the country until Tony Mooney was defeated in 2008.

Following local government reform undertaken by the State Government of Queensland, the City of Townsville and the City of Thuringowa were amalgamated in 2008.[4] The process of amalgamation was completed on the election of a new combined council on 15 March 2008.

Mayors [ edit ]

Other notable aldermen include:

Townsville City Council [ edit ]

Townsville City Council is the Local Government Authority that services the Local Government Area of Townsville. The council is represented by 10 councillors and the mayor, who have been elected by the whole city. The current mayor is Cr Jenny Hill,[13] who was formerly the deputy mayor of the pre-amalgamation City of Townsville in 2007 and early 2008.

The council provides many services to residents of the city of Townsville, including infrastructure, water, garbage, public works, and entertainment and leisure i.e. parks, theatres, events etc.

In 2006 the council had an operating expenditure of $201.3M and a capital works budget of $103.3M[15]

Civic cabinet [ edit ]

The current civic cabinet consists of one mayor, elected at large, and 10 councillors, elected from 10 individual divisions. At the last Queensland Local Government election, held on 19 March 2016, Jenny Hill from the centre-left Team Jenny Hill was elected mayor of Townsville, along with 10 other councillors from the same team.[16] No councillors were elected from the rival centre-right Jayne Arlett's team, nor were any independents, effectively creating an undivided council. Les Walker, from Team Jenny Hill, was elected as deputy mayor.[17]

Councillor Declared political membership Election Group Term Constituency Cr. Jenny Hill ALP Team Jenny Hill 2012–present Mayor Cr. Margie Ryder Independent Team Jenny Hill 2016–present Division 1 Cr. Paul Jacob ALP Team Jenny Hill 2016–present Division 2 Cr. Ann-Maree Greaney Independent Team Jenny Hill 2016–present Division 3 Cr. Mark Molachino ALP Team Jenny Hill 2016–present Division 4 Cr. Russ Cook Independent Team Jenny Hill 2016–present Division 5 Cr. Verena Coombe Independent Team Jenny Hill 2016–present Division 6 Cr. Kurt Rehbein ALP Team Jenny Hill 2016–present Division 7 Cr. Maurie Soars Australian Labor Party Team Jenny Hill 2016–present Division 8 Cr. Colleen Doyle Independent Team Jenny Hill 2012–present Division 9 Cr. Les Walker ALP Team Jenny Hill 2012–present Division 10

Towns and localities [ edit ]

Population [ edit ]

The populations given relate to the component entities prior to 2008. The 2011 census was the first for the new City.

Year Population

(City total) Population

(Townsville) Population

(Thuringowa) 1911 15,731 10,636 5,095 1921 23,690 21,353 2,337 1933 29,300 25,876 3,424 1947 36,436 34,109 2,327 1954 43,098 40,471 2,627 1961 53,715 51,143 2,572 1966 65,303 62,403 2,900 1971 72,023 68,591 3,432 1976 91,279 80,365 10,914 1981 98,900 81,172 17,728 1986 112,917 82,809 30,108 1991 125,010 87,288 37,722 1996 131,371 87,052 44,319 2001 143,841 92,701 51,140 2006 158,647 99,483 59,164 2011 174,462 2016 186,757

Amenities [ edit ]

The Townsville City Council operates libraries at Aitkenvale, Townsville City and Thuringowa Central.[18] It also operates a mobile library service, serving the following suburbs on a regular schedule:[19]

Sister cities [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Coordinates: