Belgian Gardens is an inner coastal

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

Townsville The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of ...

in the

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 a ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, Australia. In the , Belgian Gardens had a population of 2,073 people.

Geography

Belgian Gardens is located from the

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the Commerce, commercial and business center of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides wit ...

. It is a suburban area and has restricted zoning laws to reduce the amount of corporate buildings and apartments. Offshore to the north is a sandy beach along the edge of Rowes Bay (), a part of the larger Cleveland Bay ().

North Ward Road Townsville road network is a group of roads that provide access to the urban areas of Townsville in Queensland, Australia, and enable travel between the communities. Most of the roads retain their original road or street names, and are not well kn ...

runs through from south to east.

History

Before the advent of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, the suburb was named ''German Gardens'' after a vineyard owned in 1867 by German settler, Heinrich Fredrich Alfred Robinson. However, during the course of the war due to

anti-German sentiment Anti-German sentiment (also known as anti-Germanism, Germanophobia or Teutophobia) is fear or dislike of Germany, its Germans, people, and its Culture of Germany, culture. Its opposite is Germanophile, Germanophilia. Anti-German sentiment main ...

, the suburb was renamed to ''Belgian Gardens''. Townsville North State School was opened on 4 July 1887. On 20 June 1930, the school was renamed Belgian Gardens State School. During the influenza epidemic in 1919, schools were closed and Belgian Gardens school was converted into an isolation hospital with the army erecting tents in the grounds; 195 patients were hospitalised at the school with 6 deaths. In 1954, 246 students were enrolled. Cleveland School opened on 15 July 1994 as a school within the Cleveland Youth Detention Centre. On 9 February 2006 it was renamed Cleveland Education and Training Centre.

Demographics

In the , Belgian Gardens had a population of 1,935 people. In the , Belgian Gardens had a population of 2,069 people. In the , Belgian Gardens had a population of 2,073 people.

Heritage listings

Belgian Gardens has a number of

heritage-listed This list is of heritage registers, inventories of cultural properties, natural and human-made, tangible and intangible, movable and immovable, that are deemed to be of sufficient heritage value to be separately identified and recorded. In ma ...

sites, including: * 13 St James Drive: Bishop's Lodge

Education

Belgian Gardens State School is a government primary (Prep-6) school for boys and girls at 43 Potts Street (). In 2018, the school had an enrolment of 587 students with 47 teachers (41 full-time equivalent) and 24 non-teaching staff (16 full-time equivalent). It includes a special education program. Townsville Police Academy is at 26 Heatleys Parade (). There is no secondary school in Belgian Gardens. The nearest government secondary school is

Townsville State High School Townsville State High School, also colloquially known as Town High, is a secondary school in Railway Estate, Townsville (Queensland, Australia), an area administered by Townsville City Council. History Townsville State High School was e ...

in Railway Estate to the south-east.

Facilities

The Belgian Gardens Cemetery was once in the suburb but boundary changes means the cemetery is now in the neighbouring suburb of Rowes Bay.

References

External links

* {{Suburbs of Townsville Suburbs of Townsville European-Australian culture German-Australian culture