Page 253 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Australia

SOUTH OF T OWNSVILLE  251

who began the practice of
“blackbirding” – kidnapping
Kanakas from their homeland
and bringing them to Australia
as cheap labour (see p239).
Among the city’s tourist
attractions is Reef HQ, a “living
coral reef aquarium” and the
Museum of Tropical
Queensland, which displays
artifacts from the shipwreck
Pandora. Townsville is also an
access point for the Barrier Reef
and a major diving centre,
largely because of the nearby
Ornate 19th-century façade of City Hall in Charters Towers wreck of the steamship Yongala,
which sank in 1911.
tCharters Towers decline when the gold ran out Situated 8 km (5 miles) off-ed 8 km (5 miles) off-ed 8 km (5 miles) off
Situat
Situat
in the 1920s. Its economy now shore and officially a suburb of
* 8,000. £ @ @ n 74 Mosman depends on the beef industry Townsville, Magnetic Island has
St (07) 4761 5533.
and its status as the educational 2,500 inhabitants and is the only
Charters Towers was once the centre for Queensland’s reef island with a significant
second-largest town in Outback and Papua New permanent population. It was
Queensland with a population Guinea – school students make named by Captain Cook, who
of 27,000, following the 1871 up one-fifth of the population. erroneously believed that
discovery of gold in the area by magnetic fields generated by the
a 10-year-old Aboriginal boy. yTownsville and huge granite boulders he could
Gold is still mined in the area, see were causing problems with
as well as copper, lead and zinc. Magnetic Island his compass. Today, almost half
The old Charters Towers Stock * 129,000. ~ £ @ @ g of the island is a national park.
Exchange is a historic gem set n Bulletin Square (07) 4721 3660.
amid a group of splendid 19th-  Reef HQ
century buildings in the city Townsville is the second-largest Flinders St East. Tel (07) 4750 0800.
centre, including a small mining city in Queensland and a major Open 9:30am–5pm daily. Closed 25
museum. This international port for the beef, sugar and Dec. & 7 - ∑ reefhq.com.au
centre of finance was the only mining industries. Boasting, on E Musuem of Tropical Qld
such exchange in Australia average, 300 sunny days a year, Flinders St East. Tel (07) 4726 0600.
outside a capital city and was the beachfront is a source of Open 9:30am–5pm daily. Closed Good
built during the gold-mining local pride. The city was founded Fri, 25 Apr, 25 & 26 Dec. &
days. Charters Towers fell into in the 1860s by Robert Towns, ∑ mtq.qm.qld.gov.au

Idyllic blue waters of Rocky Bay on Magnetic Island