Townsville
The Unofficial Capital of North Queensland
On the lands of the Wulgurukaba and Bindal people.
schedule 1 min read / Updated Apr 2026
The largest city in north Queensland and the jumping-off point for Magnetic Island and the SS Yongala, repeatedly voted one of the ten best wreck dives in the world. Townsville's 2 kilometre Strand promenade has a stinger-safe swimming pool year-round.
Townsville was founded in 1864 on Wulgurukaba and Bindal country and is the largest city in north Queensland. Castle Hill, the 286 metre pink granite monolith in the middle of town, is the symbol of the city and has a short, steep sealed walking track to a 360 degree view.
The Strand is a 2.2 kilometre beachfront promenade with a stinger-net swimming enclosure, a free waterpark, and a rock pool that doubles as an open-air swimming venue. The Museum of Tropical Queensland in the city centre is built around the salvaged relics of the HMS Pandora, the ship that was sent to bring back the Bounty mutineers and wrecked on the Great Barrier Reef in 1791.
Offshore, the SS Yongala is a 109 metre passenger steamer that sank in a cyclone in 1911 and now sits on a flat sandy bottom 15 metres below the surface. It is considered one of the best wreck dives in the world thanks to the abundance of large marine life (giant gropers, sea snakes, eagle rays, loggerhead turtles) that aggregates around it. Magnetic Island, a half hour ferry ride away, is a granite island of beaches, koalas and walking trails.
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Attribution
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Images (2)
- Cape Pallerenda beach Townsville Queensland IGA 1 6 2018 6 4... · John Robert McPherson · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Castle Hill seen from North Ward, Townsville, 2023, 01.jpg · Kgbo · CC BY-SA 4.0
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