residential

Castle Hill is a heritage-listed isolated pink granite monolith in the suburb of Castle Hill, City of Townsville, Queensland, Australia.[1][2] Its Indigenous name is Cootharinga, sometimes written as Cooderinga. It rises to a height of some 286 metres (938 ft) above sea level and dominates the city skyline.[5] It is one of the most distinctive natural features on the Queensland coast. There are a number of vantage points from which to view the city below and also across Cleveland Bay to nearby Magnetic Island. Castle Hill (as a hill) was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register in 1993. The surface is primarily bare rock or shallow lithosols with small areas of duplex soils. There are three peaks to the summit. Robert Towns (the founder of Townsville) monument is on the Castle Hill. The vegetation, largely regenerative, is dominated by indigenous plant species. Approximately 300 plant species have been identified. The fauna, which has not been surveyed comprehensively, includes the unadorned rock-wallaby.[6] The avifauna had been surveyed, with over 50 bird species either visiting or residing on the hill. Peregrine falcons and brahminy kites nest here. Echidna, death adder and quail have been seen. Castle Hill has formerly also been known locally as Cutheringa, Cudtheringa, Cootharinga, and Mt Cutheringa.[5] The Aboriginal history associated with Cutheringa has not been recorded, but its name survives as one of only two known Australian Indigenous place names in the Townsville region, the other being Pallarenda. Castle Hill was one of the earliest sites named by Andrew Ball who, together with MW Reid, were the first Europeans to explore the Ross River area in April 1864.[6] The settlement established here was known initially as Castletown, until the name was replaced by Townsville in 1865. The hill became a much admired local landmark, evoking aesthetic delight and a unique sense of identity. This prominent link between urban life and nature largely determined the disordered layout of Townsville's streets and in the late 19th century was frequented for recreational pursuits such as botanising and nature study. Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Hill,_Townsville#See_also

Looking North West from Southern end of what became known as Water Tank Hill. Marian Street, now known as Rodeo Drive, running diagonally right to upper left.

In May 1929 the railway was extended from the old mining town of Duchess to Mount Isa, causing a five-fold population increase to about 3000 by Christmas. The Catholic church building was transported from Duchess in 1929. MIM built a town dam on Rifle Creek, started building well-designed miners' houses, laid out sports facilities and roads and planned a tree-lined park. The locating of the railway station on the east side of the river persuaded many west side businesses to move to the new town, but within a year it was found that the company town was a better appointed settlement than the official east side town under the management of Cloncurry Shire. MIM's hospital, sensibly located near the site of potential mining accidents, caused considerable discontent when compared with the less well-appointed cottage hospital in town. The emerging divide between town and mine settlements was physically manifested when the Leichhardt River occasionally flooded. Source: www.queenslandplaces.com.au/mount-isa

Gladstone was originally known as Port Curtis, which was named by Matthew Flinders in 1802 after Sir Roger Curtis who had been Commandant at the Cape of Good Hope when he had called there for victuals and resupply. Port Curtis enjoyed a brief three months of temporary settlement as the administrative centre of the colony of North Australia (1847). George Barney (Barney's Point, Gladstone) commanded the settlement but a change of government in England led to its disbandment. Within a few years pastoral occupation of the hinterland brought about pressure for the port to be a livestock shipping outlet. In 1853 the town of Gladstone was surveyed and the first sale of town and suburban allotments took place the following year. Gladstone served well as a harbor, but the absence of plentiful water and agricultural land hindered its development. A gold rush at nearby Canoona (1858) then overshadowed Gladstone for a period. Although declared a municipality in 1863, Gladstone's growth was slow: a customs house was erected in 1860, the first school in 1864, a Presbyterian church in 1869 and Catholic and Church of England churches in 1874. Gladstone's wharves were at Auckland Point (named after the ship Lord Auckland that brought the first European settlers in 1847), where Auckland Inlet enters Port Curtis. The short waterway involved navigating a strait that was obstructed by submerged rock and passable only at high tide. Intermittent blasting and dredging went on until the 1890s in an attempt to improve access through the passage, with less than adequate results. Funds were spent on alternative harbors at Port Alma and Rockhampton, leaving Gladstone's population convinced they were being unfairly overlooked. Gladstone remained convinced that it had the best potential shipping harbour in central Queensland. The state government appointed the Gladstone Harbour Board in 1914, and the town formed its own Gladstone Harbour League to lobby the Railways minister for fairer haulage rates and for freight from surrounding shires. Progress was slow, and the town's economic mainstays remained the Port Curtis dairy factory (which achieved maximum production during the 1940s-50s) and the meat works. Tourism was still a distant prospect, although Heron Island emerged as a local holiday destination in the 1930s. Flying boats, bound for Singapore and connections to England called at Auckland Inlet from 1935 and a land aerodrome, jointly backed by Gladstone and Calliope Shire, opened in 1956. Source: www.queenslandplaces.com.au/gladstone