Town Common is a 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. It is locally known as "The Common". In the , Town Common had "no people or a very low population".

Geography

Australian bustard Townsville Town Common June 1986 IMG 0021

Town Common is bounded by the

Bohle River The Bohle River is a river in North Queensland, Australia. Course and features The headwaters of the river rise in the Hervey Range south of and flows north along the coastal plain west of Lake Ross and then north, parallel with Ross River ...

to the west, by the

Coral Sea The Coral Sea () is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific off the northeast coast of Australia, and classified as an Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia, interim Australian bioregion. The Coral Sea extends down t ...

to the north-west and east, and

Townsville Airport Townsville Airport is a major Australian regional airport that services the city of Townsville, Queensland. The airport is also known as Townsville International Airport, and Garbutt Airport, a reference to its location in the Townsville su ...

( Garbutt) to the south. Most of the land is flat and at sea level with the exception of Mount Marlow () in the Many Peaks Range in the north-east of the suburb which rises to . The land in the suburb is mostly undeveloped with much of land contained within the Townsville Town Common Conservation Park (). The western part of the suburb is a floodplain created by a mangrove-lined network of tributaries of the Bohle River. Shelly Beach () is at the northern coast of the suburb, but is not accessible by road. The developed land is in the south-east of the locality consists of a golf course, the Garden Settlement Aged Care Village on Cape Pallarenda Road (), and a park. The golf course is irrigated with treated waste water from the Mount St John Wastewater Treatment Plant in Mount St John.

History

The wetlands and lowlands of Town Common the result of sand dune formation and water catchment drainage processes including erosion and sedimentation over thousands of years. Town Common was gazetted in 1869 as

common land Common land is collective land (sometimes only open to those whose nation governs the land) in which all persons have certain common rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect wood, or to cut turf for fuel. A person ...

for the people of Townsville (established in 1864). In 1900 part of the wetlands was established as a sanitary reserve. In 1914 a pasturage reserve was established. In August 2016,

Blue Care Blue Care is an agency of UnitingCare Australia, UnitingCare Queensland, the health and community arm of the Uniting Church in Australia, Uniting Church in Queensland, Australia. Originally established as the Blue Nursing Service by the Methodist ...

who operated the aged care village opened a new facility at Mount Louisa and transferred the existing aged care village residents to this new location. The structure of the aged care village remains abandoned in Town Common.

Demographics

In the , Town Common had a population of 163 people. The median age of the residents was 81 years, reflecting that the only residential land in the suburb is an aged care village. In the , Town Common had a population of 71 people with a median age of 85 years, being residents of the aged care village. In the , Town Common had "no people or a very low population", due to the aged care centre closing.

Education

There are no schools in Town Common. The nearest government primary school is Belgian Gardens State School in Belgian Gardens to the south-east. 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.

Amenities

Robertson Park is along the coast off Cape Pallarenda Drive () Rowes Bay Golf Club is in Emmerson Street ().

References

External links

{{Suburbs of Townsville Suburbs of Townsville