Charters Towers
Charters Towers is a rural town in the Charters Towers Region, Queensland, Australia. It is by road south-west from Townsville on the Flinders Highway. During the last quarter of the 19th century, the town boomed as the rich gold deposits under the city were developed. After becoming uneconomical in the 20th century, profitable mining operations have commenced once again. In the, the town of Charters Towers had a population of 8,040 people.
Geography
The urban area of the town of Charters Towers includes its suburbs: Charters Towers City ; Richmond Hill, Toll, and Columbia to the north, Queenton to the east, Grand Secret and Alabama Hill to the west, and Towers Hill, Mosman Park, and Millchester to the south.Charters Towers township is only mildly elevated at above sea-level, but this has a noticeable effect, with lower humidity and wider temperature variations compared to nearby Townsville. Charters Towers obtains its water supply from the nearby Burdekin River.
Climate
Charters Towers experiences a tropical semi-arid climate, with a short wet season from November to March and a long dry season from April to October, with cooler nights and lower humidity. The average annual rainfall is, primarily concentrated in the austral summer. Extreme temperatures in Charters Towers have ranged from on 6 January 1994 to on 5 July 1899.Record temperatures were combined from the old Post Office weather station and the current Airport weather station.
History
The town was founded in the 1870s when gold was discovered by chance at Towers Hill on Christmas Eve 1871 by 12-year-old Aboriginal boy, Jupiter Mosman. Jupiter was with a small group of prospectors including Hugh Mosman, James Fraser, and George Clarke. Their horses bolted after a flash of lightning. While he was searching, Jupiter found both the horses and a nugget of gold in a creek at the base of Towers Hill. Charters originated from the Gold Commissioner, WSEM Charters. Ten major gold reefs were eventually mined.Such were the boom years, between 1872 and 1899, that Charters Towers hosted its own stock exchange. The Great Northern Railway between Charters Towers and the coastal port of Townsville was completed in December 1882. During this period, the population was 27,500, making Charters Towers Queensland's largest city outside of Brisbane. The city was also affectionately known as "The World", as anything one might desire reportedly could be had in the Towers, leaving no reason to travel elsewhere.
The Borough of Charters Towers was proclaimed on 21 June 1877 under the Municipal Institutions Act 1864 with John McDonald being elected the town's first mayor. The local government area would later be known as Town of Charters Towers and City of Charters Towers, before being absorbed into the Charters Towers Region.
Charters Towers Post Office opened on 17 May 1872.
A 20 head of stamps mill began ore-crushing operations on 16 July 1872. The Venus Battery continued to be used by small mine in the region until 1971. The unique site remains intact today, together with a cyanide treatment plant and assay office.
On Sunday 10 August 1884, the new Charters Towers District Hospital opened. During 1888–89, the Charters Towers Stock Exchange and Royal Arcade were constructed at the northern end of Gill Street for local businessman and civic leader Alexander Malcolm.
By 1917, gold mining became uneconomical. During World War I, labour was hard to find, and as the mines drove deeper, ventilation and water problems arose. This production decline was similar across Australian gold mines, with rising costs and a fixed gold price eroding profitability. The town entered a long period of relative stagnation and little further development has occurred since.
The Charters Towers gold field produced over 200 tonnes of gold from 1871 to 1917. The gold is concentrated into veins, and was Australia's richest major field with an average grade of 34 grams per tonne. The grade was almost double that of Victorian mines and almost 75% higher than the grades of Western Australian gold fields of that time.
In 1935, Clermont-Charters Towers was an important line for public telephone communications.
During World War II, Charters Towers was the location of RAAF No.9 Inland Aircraft Fuel Depot, completed in 1942 and closed on 29 August 1944. Usually consisting of four tanks, 31 fuel depots were built across Australia for the storage and supply of aircraft fuel for the RAAF and the US Army Air Forces at a total cost of £900,000.
Beginning in June 1943, Charters Towers was also the location for a major USAAF chemical bomb depot operated by the 760th Chemical Depot Company. The depot contained bombs filled with mustard agent, cyanogen chloride and other toxic chemicals. In addition to maintaining the depot, the 760th cooperated with the Australian Chemical Warfare Research Unit to conduct research on bomb design and delivery techniques. Late in 1944, the depot and its contents were moved to Oro Bay, New Guinea.
Demographics
In the, the town of Charters Towers had a population of 8,120 people.In the, the town of Charters Towers had a population of 8,040 people.
Heritage listings
Charters Towers has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:- Church of Christ, Anne Street
- Boer War Veterans Memorial Kiosk and Lissner Park, Bridge Street
- Bore Sight Range and Compass Swinging Platform, Columbia, Toll
- Aldborough, 25 Deane Street
- Signals, Crane and Subway, Charters Towers Railway Station, Enterprise Road, Queenton
- Charters Towers Post Office, 17 Gill Street
- Pollard's Store, 18 Gill Street
- Bank of New South Wales, 34–36 Gill Street
- Charters Towers Police Station, 49 Gill Street
- St Columba's Church Bell Tower, 134 Gill Street
- Ambulance Building, 157 Gill Street
- Charters Towers Central State School, 39–47 High Street
- School of Mines, 24–26 Hodgkinson Street
- Charters Towers Courthouse, 28 Hodgkinson Street
- Ay Ot Lookout, 63 Hodgkinson Street
- Thornburgh House, 57–59 King Street, Richmond Hill
- Venus State Battery, MacDonald Street, Millchester
- Bartlam's Store, Mosman Street
- ED Miles Mining Exchange, 65 Mosman Street
- Queensland National Bank, 72 Mosman Street
- Charters Towers Stock Exchange Arcade, 76 Mosman Street
- Australian Bank of Commerce, 86 Mosman Street
- Lyall's Jewellery Shop, 90 Mosman Street
- Day Dawn mine remains, Paull Street
- Pfeiffer House, 2–6 Paull Street
- Charters Towers Masonic Lodge, 20 Ryan Street:
- Civic Club, 36 Ryan Street
- Mining works on Towers Hill, Towers Hill
- Charters Towers mine shafts in Alabama, Millchester, Queenton, Towers Hill
- Stone kerbing, channels and footbridges of Charters Towers in Charters Towers City, Millchester, Queenton, Richmond Hill
Population
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 10.9% of the population.
- About 83.3% of people were born in Australia. The next-most common countries of birth were New Zealand 1.5% and England 1.3%.
- About 87.6% of people spoke only English at home.
- The most common responses for religion were no religion 24.4%, Catholic 23.5%, and Anglican 18.0%.
Economy
Mining
More gold has been estimated to exist underground than the total removed in the gold rush. Hundreds of separate mining leases covering an area of were consolidated by James Lynch in the 1970s and 1980s and the company Citigold listed on the Australian Securities Exchange in 1993. After 89 years, the goldfields were reopened, and gold was produced again from the Warrior Mine southeast of the town in November 2006 by Citigold Corporation Limited. Gold is mined from two deposits, which are accessed by sloping tunnels. The extracted gold ore is trucked about south-west of the city for processing into gold Doré bars. Citigold has announced plans to open three mines directly under the city to extract gold at a rate of 250,000 ounces per year.Education
Charters Towers has four secondary schools: Columba Catholic College ; Blackheath and Thornburgh College ; All Souls St Gabriels School ; and Charters Towers State High School. The nearest university is the James Cook University, in Townsville. Charters Towers is well known as a boarding school town, with families from western Queensland, the Northern Territory, Western Australia and the Torres Strait Islands sending their children to school in the district, over the larger cities in the area such as Townsville and Cairns. The Alliance of Charters Towers State Schools represents the five State schools in the area that are funded by the Queensland Government – Charters Towers Central State School, Millchester State School, Richmond Hill State School, Charters Towers School of Distance Education and Charters Towers State High School.A number of other state schools within the city and nearby vicinity, which mostly commenced during the mining boom years, have also existed. These included Queenton State School, Mt. Leyshon State School, King's Gully State School, the Broughton State School, Macrossan State School, Rishton State School, Liontown State School, Black Jack State School, Pumping Station State School, and Sellheim State School.
Amenities
The Charters Towers Regional Council operates the Charters Towers Excelsior Library in Charters Towers at 130 Gill Street.The Charters Towers branch of the Queensland Country Women's Association meets at the Jane Black Memorial Hall at 80 Mossman Street. Jane Black of Pajingo Station was a pioneer of the Charters Towers branch but also one of the founders of the Country Women's Association in Queensland as a whole. The hall was officially opened on Thursday 22 July 1954.