Townsville

Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 179011 as of the 2021 census, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of the Sunshine Coast). It is unofficially considered the capital of North Queensland. Townsville hosts a significant number of governmental, community and major business administrative offices for the northern half of the state.

Part of the larger local government area of the City of Townsville, it is in the dry tropics region of Queensland, adjacent to the central section of the Great Barrier Reef. The city is also a major industrial centre, home to one of the world’s largest zinc refineries, a nickel refinery and many other similar activities. As of December 2020, $30M operations to expand the Port of Townsville are underway, which involve channel widening and installation of a 70-tonne Liebherr Super Post Panamax Ship-to-Shore crane, to allow much larger cargo and passenger ships to utilise the port. It is an increasingly important port due to its proximity to Asia and major trading partners such as China.