Townsville and North Queensland

Established in 1864, the coastal city of Townsville is 1,380km north of the Queensland capital, Brisbane. Townsville is known as the capital of the North Queensland region. From its origins as a shipping port, Townsville has become the major exporting and economic hub of North Queensland.

A thriving, diversified regional economy, a relaxed lifestyle and a range of attractions make Townsville and North Queensland your ideal investment destination.

With a fast growing population of over 160,000, Townsville is the service and logistics centre for a large region including the Northwest and Central Queensland mineral provinces.

Located in a dry tropics climate, Townsville offers an average of 300 days of sunshine each year. The region's weather pattern is dominated by a short wet summer with considerable rainfall and a relatively long dry period for the remainder of the year.

Temperatures range between a minimum of 13 degrees in the winter months to a maximum of 33 degrees in the summer months.

Townsville and its neighbouring twin city Thuringowa, make up Queensland's largest city outside the State's south east. For the purposes of this document, the twin cities will be referred to as Townsville.

Townsville is the key to the economic development of North Queensland. Well established national highways and rail networks converge on a deep-water port enabling the efficient export of minerals, metals and sugar from the resource rich region to world markets. It also facilitates the import of support equipment and supplies. These strengths translate into high economic growth rates, making Townsville one of the most dynamic investment areas in Australia.

Community and business leaders pro-actively encourage a sustained increase in population and welcome development that generates further economic growth. This commitment to continued growth within the region has shaped a long term focus on attracting inbound investment, fostering new enterprises, creating an environment conducive to business expansion, and exploring opportunities for further export and import replacement markets.

Townsville contains all relevant facilities establishing the city as Northern Australia's primary location for public administration, education, research and development, health services and a wide range of public sector professional services.

Doing business in Townsville is very easy, with ready access to the city by air, road and rail. All major domestic airlines operate in Townsville offering 13,500 seats per week with direct flights to capital cities including Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and all centres in North Queensland. Townsville airport is equipped to handle 747-400 aircraft.

A stable political environment in Australia and the North Queensland Region provides business certainty. Australia has the lowest risk of political instability in the Asia Pacific region and the second lowest in the world.