Heritage Information Sheets

The Aitkenvale airfield was one of a number established in the Townsville Thuringowa area during World War II and operated to train fighter pilots prior to their joining hostilities in New Guinea.

A strong and intelligent business woman, Isabella Gertrude Fitzpatrick was one of the first women elected to local government after amendment to the Local Government Act in 1920.

The first inland road went due west from the port of Townsville, across the Bohle and Alice rivers, climbed the range at Thornton Gap and then headed further west.

In late 1929 the Thuringowa Shire Council received a letter from Department of Civil Aviation with reference to the establishment of an airfield on Ross Plains which would be controlled by the Council.

In the mid 1970s the riverside reserve at the junction of Ross River Road and Thuringowa Drive became the focus for recreation in Thuringowa however it is not generally known that its use as an area for leisure activities began much earlier.

The Townsville Water Authority was established in 1882 to provide reticulated to residents within the Townsville City area. This body held the rights to water in the Ross River and represented the needs of residents in the Townsville area only.

Under the Divisional Boards Act of 1879 the Thuringowa Division was formed. It covered an area which extended 170 km along the coast from the mouth of the Burdekin River to Crystal Creek and inland to the coastal ranges.

In the early decades of settlement, water for the Thuringowa area was drawn from private wells and rainwater tanks. However this was not always reliable...

Joseph Hodel was born on the Channel Island of Jersey in 1850. He came to Queensland with his parents and siblings in 1863 and became a member of the Thuringowa Divisional Board in 1884.

From 1921, chairmen were elected for three year terms by the constituency; prior to this they were elected yearly by fellow Councillors.

Under the Divisional Boards Act of 1879 the Thuringowa Division was formed. It covered an area that extended 170km along the coast from the mouth of the Burdekin River to Crystal Creek and inland to the coastal ranges.

In 1876, the year Brisbane held its first Ekka, prominent figures in our region’s community established the North Queensland Pastoral and Agricultural Association.

Much of the land now covered by the suburbs of Condon, Rasmussen and Kelso was taken up as selections by pioneering families in the late nineteenth century.

Did you know that as a dress rehearsal for the Krait’s first attack on Singapore harbour during World War II, the Scorpion party raided shipping anchored in Townsville harbour?

Vincent “Bushy” Parker is known as a local war hero. He was a local lad who became a spitfire pilot during the Battle of Britain...

The township of Paluma made a significant contribution to World War II.

Thomas Gleeson was born at Dulla Rathsburg County Tipperary, Ireland on 6 May 1841. He was a blacksmith by trade and came to Australia in 1864 on the Castle Eden.

Possibly the oldest extant headstone in the region lies at the foot of Hervey Range. It is the grave of 24 year old, Francis Earl, a local squatter who died of fever at the Range Hotel

The Weir State School was originally known as the Black School because it was painted with creosote.

The area known today as Rollingstone was part of the original Armidale holdings, which was first leased to Adam Mossman and Edward George Clerk in 1883.

It is sometimes assumed that the stone bridge on the Paluma Road was constructed by convicts. This was not the case

Another hotel situated along the route inland over Hervey's Range was the Alice Hotel.

John Charles von Stieglitz was a prominent resident of early Thuringowa. In 1880 he became a member of Thuringowa’s first Divisional Board.

John Althaus had been born in Germany and lived part of his early life in the Rockhampton area. He married Jane Pattison there in 1866. By the 1870s they had taken up their selection on Althaus Creek.

The Bohle airfield was used as a squadron camp and staging area throughout the war in the Pacific. Infrastructure was basic; semi-permanent structures for mess, ablution and latrine buildings and tents as accommodation for servicemen.

In the mid-nineteenth century colonial governments began to enact laws to reserve and protect scenic areas for public pleasure and recreation. National Parks were established as an escape from hectic city life.