Wednesday 21st April 2021
We had a complete sleep through last night. It was such a great sleep, Eva woke with a crook neck and Jason with a crook back.
We had breakfast around 730am and got ourselves ready for some early morning shopping.
We left for the shops around 830am.
The first stop was BCF where Jason purchased his new sunglasses. We had a slight accident and they ended up being unusable.
We then went to Freddy’s Fishing shop to pick up Jason’s new fishing rod. This is to replace the one the car door and wind broke on Fraser Island.
We then went to Anaconda where Eva picked up two pairs of shoes. Waterproof walkers and hiking shoes.
We then stopped at Kmart where we got replacement playdoh and sideway chalk.
We returned home via the post office, where we posted some cards.
We returned to the van for lunch before heading off to Townsville City centre. We learnt quickly that a lot of shops close early. Tourist info closes at 2pm, clothing stores 3 or 4pm.
We wondered around Flinders street looking at some of the old buildings.
We made our way to The Strand, which is the marina and promenade. We spent some time in ANZAC Memorial Park.
After our stroll we returned to the van, just in time to start dinner.
Townsville – Early Days
Colonisation
Aboriginal peoples such as the Wulgurukaba, Bindal, Girrugubba, Warakamai and Nawagi originally inhabited the Townsville area.
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 deciding to return to British society when the frontier of colonisation came to the region.
In 1860, George Elphinstone Dalrymple led a maritime expedition to the region from Brisbane.
Due to the Burdekin River’s seasonal flooding it was imperative to establish a seaport to the North of the river for the cattle industry. John Melton Black of Woodstock Station, dispatched several people under the command of a John Marlow 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 next group of colonists, led by W. A. Ross, arrived at Cleveland Bay from Woodstock Station on 5 November 1864.
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. Regional pastoral and sugar industries also expanded and flourished.
The buildings in the early 1880’s were timber built warehouses and wharves.
As the towns fortunes and prospects grew, these were replaced with more modern masonry buildings.
World war II
During the Second World War, the city was host to more than 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.
Many buildings, schools and 177 private houses were commandeered for use by the military. Slit trenches were dug in many places, and 18 concrete air-raid shelters were built, six of them in Flinders Street.
In July 1942, three small Japanese air raids were conducted against Townsville, which was by then the most important air base in Australia.
Tomorrow
We head to Charters Towers to celebrate Eva’s 35th birthday.
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