Townsville was a Geography and places good articles nominee, but did not meet the good article criteria at the time. There may be suggestions below for improving the article. Once these issues have been addressed, the article can be renominated. Editors may also seek a reassessment of the decision if they believe there was a mistake.
Townsville is within the scope of WikiProject Australia, which aims to improve Wikipedia's coverage of Australia and Australia-related topics. If you would like to participate, visit the project page.AustraliaWikipedia:WikiProject AustraliaTemplate:WikiProject AustraliaAustralia
I am questioning the inclusion of touch football competitions for inclusion. Many towns in Qld and NSW have touch football competitions but are they notable enough for inclusion? I refer to WP:GROUP: A company, corporation, organization, team, religion, group, product, or service is notable if it has been the subject of coverage in secondary sources. Such sources must be reliable, and independent of the subject.Michellecrisp (talk) 06:22, 26 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I have expanded this a bit and made it its own heading as it is not really a sub-component of geography. Welcome any comments. ROxBo (talk) 11:53, 8 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
As good a school as Townsville Grammar may be I am not convinced any high school merits its own "stand alone" subheading on the Townsville page. Why not Cathedral or any other schools? I propose the subheading is removed. ROxBo (talk) 10:08, 26 March 2009 (UTC) Gone ROxBo (talk) 04:02, 4 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Looking at this subheading, and the "Media in Townsville section and separate article, much of the info is duplicated. I think it probably should be consolidated into one. Welcome any comments. ROxBo (talk) 15:25, 21 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]
The urban population is the one that used in articles such as this one, Statistical Districts are larger then LGA's and are areas set by ABS which includes areas to related to Townsville, LGA's belong in the City of Townsville article as it's the population of the LGA and not the city itself as it includes towns and villages. Urban/Locality population covers Townsville and it's suburbs Bidgee (talk) 12:37, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Perhaps can you answer, is Pallarenda a suburb of Townsville?
It is not included in the UC/L of Townsville (see [1]) but is most definitely is a suburb. The population figure for this article has - after many changes, over years - been listed by statistical district (defined as "a large predominantly urban area outside the Capital City Statistical Divisions (see [2]).
I was correcting some edits by User:137.219.194.92, who (among some vandalism edits to notable people) changed the population to the 2008 LGA estimate. I initially overlooked this was "LGA" (oversight) and fixed the reference, then realised my error and moved this all to the LGA page myself. I then reverted the changes on the Townsville page, so they were in fact the same as the previous figures (last revision not involving you, me or vandals being User:123.211.149.100 at 23:18, 30 August 2009[3], but added the 06/08 updated figure (ABS released in 04/09) for the same 2006 criteria. That is my explanation, just in case you did not have a clear perspective.
That said this page has had a lot of to-and-fro about population over many years, in part due to the unique former 2 cities (Townsville and Thuringowa) and rapid growth, making population change quickly. For over a year eveyone has accepted SD, (see unrelated, randomly selected edit from over a year ago by User:Mattinbgn at 06:57, 30 August 2008 [4]). I do not see why you have suddenly decided to make a change without discussion or justification? ROxBo (talk) 13:04, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
"Each capital city forms its own Statistical Division, and in Australia the population of the SD is the most-often quoted figure for that city's population"
Capital cities are a bad place to compare with as the MSR's are by definition correct no matter what - they're usually defined independently of the ABS (eg Metropolitan Region Scheme for Perth, Melbourne 2020 for Melbourne) and the ABS simply uses them. Brisbane stands as the lone exception, I believe, for reasons that boil down to local exceptionism. Orderinchaos17:13, 1 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]
That list is a different matter and never really should be relied on as I've already said it uses an area larger then the LGA (IE: Includes areas not relevant to Townsville's population). Most of the locations in Australia uses Urban/Locality (Where available) and it has been discussed in the past (however I'm not really in the mood to search the large amount of archives) and I, myself have changed populations to the LGA's until it was pointed out to me sometime ago but has been discussed a few times. I've raised this at the Australian noticeboard as editors there will hopefully have the answer. Bidgee (talk) 13:21, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Those are not good examples/free of bias as you are a heavy editor in that geographical region (and volunteer at the Wagga Wagga Heritage Centre!). That is why I chose randomly, but big pages not Albury. You did not answer the question I posed - is Pallarenda, Queensland a suburb? In your words "IE Includes areas not relevant to Townsville's population".
The uncertainty here comes from the fact that none of the ABS definition are perfect for answering the question of population. One just has to chose one that is the best fit. You did not provide a prospective arguement for making a change, after the issue had been settle for > 1year (as illustrated above), hence the revisions. I see you comments now. Perhaps let others decide - eg editor of Perth, Western Australia or Hobart, Tasmania? Or Sydney, New South Wales - I challenge you to try and change that as well. Thinks about Pallarenda and please give an answer. Anyway I'm going to take a breath myself. ROxBo (talk) 13:48, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I suggest that you start assuming good faith, How is it bias? I've only updated those populations and were already using Urban/Locality populations before hand! but I've kept a neutral point of view Also I'm not yet a volunteer (As it's not yet up and running and it deals with Military [Mostly RAAF] and is part of Point Cook) but that has no relevant's to this article. Also we are not talking about Pallarenda population but you would find it has been included into a nearby suburb (An example: In Wagga CSU is a suburb [Classed by the GNB of NSW but the ABS has no population, why? well it's been included into Estella's population]). Bidgee (talk) 13:57, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
But not Cairns, Queensland. I guess many editors have found both methods acceptable to use, and perhaps (as susggested) best to use the one that is most logical/applicable for the particular page. For exaple, looking at your selection - Calen, Queensland does not have SD as an option ([5]), therefore I would go with UC/L there for sure. Same withGoulburn, New South Wales. But Townsville, Queensland does, and the SD includes areas of Towwnsville eg Pallarenda (sigh) that are clearly part of Townsville, and so it is the better choice. I think it would be great to let other editors to give some comment (but no ring-ins please...)14:33, 31 August 2009 (UTC)ROxBo (talk) 14:34, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I was using bias as a technical term. The act of showing me pages you have editied, in order to demonstrate that your way of editing is correct, is the point I was trying to illustrate.
It's an unfortunate dispute caused partly by inconsistency of the ABS around Australia. For instance with Newcastle using the SD is patently ridiculous, it tries to count all of Port Stephens, Maitland and Cessnock as part of Newcastle which they clearly aren't, so we use the UCL. "Major Statistical Region" works for all of the capital cities, except Brisbane, who seem to think anything outside the LGA's boundaries isn't Brisbane (although the article confusingly alternates between the two measures of Brisbane's population strength.) With the WA cities, the SD's are about correct in some cases and wildly out in others (Mandurah comes to mind - one would be considered seriously insane by Western Australians to include the rural Shire of Murray as a "suburb" of Mandurah, and the UCL is almost dead on). Albany inexplicably doesn't have an SD. In Townsville, it includes some rural areas (although underpopulated ones) and Magnetic Island, but critically includes Pallarenda and the Northern Beaches (Deeragun etc) whereas the UCL excludes them for some strange reason. If only the ABS would stick to one rule for all rather than being so inventive, we wouldn't have these problems.
Also it would do to take some of the heat out of these things - Bidgee is in my experience a professional and good faith editor who has done a lot to improve articles around Australia, not just in his own immediate areas of interest, and like me is aware of the vastly different and inconsistent practices of both the ABS and Wikipedians around Australia. At least in the case of Griffith, the article used UCL before he even commenced editing the article in early 2008, which would suggest it's the consensus of a fair number of editors in that region. (see [7]) I choose to disagree with him in this instance but it in no way reflects on the strength of his overall argument and contributions here. Orderinchaos17:07, 1 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]
There seems to be a minor edit war going on with the infobox image in this article. Attempts by editors to use File:TownsvilleCBD.jpg instead of File:Townsville city.jpg have been reverted with references to "blue skies" (whatever that means) in the edit summary. File:TownsvilleCBD.jpg is generally a much better resolution, more current (8 months vs 50 months) image. The most obvious difference is with the circular building at the left. You can actually see some detail in File:TownsvilleCBD.jpg. In fact, there's a lot more detail throughout the image. As for those blue skies, there is far too much sky in File:Townsville city.jpg, blue or otherwise. My preference is for File:TownsvilleCBD.jpg as it's a much better image generally. --AussieLegend (talk) 15:40, 14 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I think the location map could be much better. As it stands it occupies a lot of space while providing little information. How about something like Hong Kong has? Elekhh (talk) 14:13, 3 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I've made an initial run-through of the article, and here are my preliminary thoughts. First off, I should tell you I would not pass it in its current state, but that said, I've listed three problems below that should be fixable.
Problem 1: Coverage is too vague/skimpy. I've listed these below as examples, but there are many more instances of vagueness and simple lack of coverage:
the location map in the info box gives the reader no clue where this city is located. You may need a better location map, one that shows the location of Queensland vis a vis the Australian continent, and one that shows the location of Townsville in North Queensland. As it is, the map you have could be a peninsula in Michigan, Scotland, or Newfoundland, and there is absolutely no sense of space or proximity to anything else.
The section on the new industries and the Japanese migrant labor force needs to be expanded to explain the relationship between the migrant work force and Townsville. You've mentioned new industries here. When did they develop, what was their impact, how big were they?
Only 2 thing have happened of note in Townsville since 1970? What is this agreement you mention? Why was Townsville chosen for the negotiations? What happened with the cyclone??? Certainly there is more information than a cyclone battered the city?
Problem 2: Prose. You've got multiple prose problems, and these problems are not simply Australian English versus American or Canadian or Queen's English. The article appears to have been hastily written. Here are some examples
were the city councils of Townsville and Thurwingowa amalgamated, or were the cities joined, or were the cities joined into the council? As it is written, the cities became the council, which cannot be what you intend to tell us.
You've also used a lot of ambiguous phrasing and passive voice. Townsville was declared a municipality....by whom? Why? did it reach a certain population? You'll see that I've tweaked your history text some to try for greater clarity. One sentence is entirely deleted -- Townsville was first established in 1864.with ref name="history This sentence had originally been your para's topic sentence, but it was not the topic of the paragraph.
just plain misphrasing: The Japanese consulate wasn't established to service the Japanese, (what are they, cars?)— it was established to serve them.
Problem 3: Dropped ideas. Text refers to big ideas, but then doesn't follow through. For example.
What is white Australia policy? I know you link to it, but so what? What did it do? a short summary in this paragraph would help fill out this section considerably. What was the impact? Maybe a Main link to the white Australia policy article would be useful too, but I think you need more than just two sentences here to explain the relationship specifically of this policy in Townsville.
Linking between education, geography, location. so much could be done here, and you've dropped the ball. I gather that Townsville is just off the Great Barrier Reef. And.....?
Is this all that happened there in World War II? What about World War I, what happened to the local units from there?
Problem 4: POV and focus. JC University is a strong etc.... ummmmmm? do you work there? The University has a strong and internationally recognised expertise in marine & tropical biology How about The University's programs in marine and tropical biology draw on the University's location adjacent to the GBR... or something like that.
These are just a few, a summary, of the issues. I've provided examples, and I hope you'll go through it and see what you can do with the article. Drop me a line on my talk page when I should come back and review it. I'll give it a week before I take another action. Good luck with your improvements! 22:50, 10 October 2009 (UTC)
This section seems to have been written by an arm-chair sportsman. Greg Norman was born in Mt Isa. He went to high school in Tsv. There should be at least a paragraph devoted to Elizabeth Kenny.220.245.41.236 (talk) 02:57, 5 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]
The line describing how Marbo overturned the fantasy of 'Terra Nulius' is off the mark. The HC ruled that the English common-law 50yr principle could start before 1778. Applicants had to show a continuous linkage with the land and definite borders. Marbo did this as it was common for Melanesians to mark their land with survey stones. The HC cannot overrule the Constitution. This line has probably been written by a student of Henry Reynolds. He was telling to media idiots that the HC had overruled the Constitution. Such a claim was and still is a leftist fantasy.220.245.41.236 (talk) 02:57, 5 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]
As there was previously no discernible criteria for organising the list of sports teams in Townsville, I believe they should be organised alphabetically. This, coincidentally, is also in order of average attendances and, one could argue, popularity. Furthermore, the line on AFL being played locally has been replaced with information on all local competitions. AFL is the least popular code in Townsville and certainly does not deserve its own sentence. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 123.211.103.64 (talk) 00:14, 9 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Given that AFL is the biggest football code in the country, and your edits removed details of the first local boy to make good in that code, with an inaccurate Edit summary, I, with all due respect, smell an anti-Aussie Rules bias. Give them ALL a sentence, and avoid giving offence. And by the way, writing something here does not give you a right to instantly edit the article. Show some good faith and await the thoughts of some other editors. I won't revert, because I hope we can now have a sensible discussion, as should have occurred BEFORE your edits. HiLo48 (talk) 10:42, 9 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I love that style of presentation of weather data. Very effective. But one important thing I reckon is missing (from both versions) for most people from more temperate climes is some humidity information. Can it be added from somewhere? HiLo48 (talk) 14:42, 3 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I'm not sure that "climate averages" actually get out-date much, but it is the time of climate change. The WMO's site actually uses (and links to) the BoM website, and presents averages from 1940-2002. The BoM site includes 2002 onwards, and so several of the months are different by a few fractions of a degree. As the chart presents temperatures to the nearest degree this shouuldn't matter much. I agree the BoM site is packed with excellent information - excellent find. However I think it is too much information for this subsection, although definitely should be linked.ROxBo 10:05, 7 November 2010 (UTC)
Buchanan's hotel is demolished. Therefore I don't think its really appropriate for a montage that is meant to illustrate Townsville as it is today ... --Biatch (talk) 23:34, 1 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]
File:StateLibQld 1 137127 Panoramic view of Townsville and surrounds, ca. 1870.jpg
College, Cambridge in 1851 and in 1852 joined the gold rush to Victoria. ... The buildings, streets, coast, mudflats and headland are featured ...(1,000 × 598 (80 KB)) - 02:31, 30 May 2013
--Andys'edtits 14:11, 23 October 2013 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Andys'edtits (talk • contribs)
Known as "Brownsville" by many of the locals and surrounding areas due to its lack of the color green. Stands in contrast to the lush, green rain-forest region just above.
One of the highest percentages of people with diabetes, and also one of the highest percentages of missing limbs and blindness due to the condition. A combination of hot and humid weather, poor diet (especially sugar intake), obesity, and lack of exercise are the causes. Some visiting travelers to the city have commented on seeing more limbless people about then they had in countries with active landmines.
Townsville also has an unsettling high percentage of skin cancer for its population.
The locals are referred to as "Townsvillians/Townsvilleans" or even "Towns-villains".
Rugby is exceedingly popular, dwarfing the interest levels of all other sports, including AFL. Townsville's team the "Cowboys" are the talk of the town and everybody's favourite, although their popularity is almost solely limited to Townsville and the surrounding area. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.185.20.135 (talk) 03:17, 3 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]
I don't personally feel like doing it ... I only have this article on my watchlist due to old vandalism that stayed unreverted for a while. It'll probably be done in due course. Graham8715:49, 1 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Graham87 given the significance of Castle Hill Saint to the identity of Townsville, do you think it appropriate to create an infobox or the like on the Townsville page? Recently, for example, the instigators have been revealed and the true history of the depiction can be reliably established. Nlovisa (talk) 04:23, 12 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Unless there are any objections, I plan to add a paragraph under the "Culture, events and festivals" section with a suitable picture detailing the origin/history of the Castle Hill Saint. While the section mainly details events/festivals, I think it is the most appropriate place to add such a cultural item. Nlovisa (talk) 06:03, 16 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]
.svg){kind=logo}
b (MoS): 
b (citations to reliable sources): 
_2006AD.png){kind=link}