City of Townsville
The City of Townsville is a 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. In June 2018 the area had a population of 194,072, and is the 28th-largest LGA in Australia. Townsville is considered to be the unofficial capital of North Queensland. History. Prior to 2008, the new City of Townsville was an entire area  of two previous and distinct local government areas: 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. This state government convention changed under the Bjelke-Petersen 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. The City of Townsville was notable in Australia in the 1890s and early 1900s for its support for municipal socialism. The anarchist and socialist Alderman Ned Lowry advocated for the City of Townsville to control  various industries. 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. From 1942 to 1949, the council was held by a majority of members of the pro-soviet Labor party split, the North Queensland Labor Party. 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. The process of amalgamation was completed on the election of a new combined council on 15 March 2008. Mayors. Other notable aldermen include: Townsville City Council. 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, 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. Civic cabinet. The current civic cabinet consists of one mayor, elected at large, and 10 councillors, elected from 10 individual divisions. At the 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. No councillors were elected from the rival centre-right Jayne Arlett's team, nor were any independents, effectively creating an undivided council. In April 2020, Cr Mark Molachino was unanimously appointed deputy mayor. Population. The populations given relate to the component entities prior to 2008. The 2011 census was the first for the new City. Amenities. The Townsville City Council operates libraries at Aitkenvale, Townsville City and Thuringowa Central. It also operates a mobile library service, serving the following  suburbs on a regular schedule: