History
The City of Townsville was first established as a municipality under the Municipal Institutions Act 1864 on 15 February 1866. The surrounding rural area, which was given the name Thuringowa, was established on 11 November 1879 as one of 74 divisions around Queensland under the Divisional Boards Act 1879. On 31 March 1903, Thuringowa became a shire and Townsville was granted city status under the Local Authorities Act 1902, the ancestor of the current Local Government Act 1993.
The borders of the Townsville municipality were expanded to keep pace with urban growth in 1882, 1918, 1936, 1958 and 1964 — the purpose of expanding the borders was to keep urban and rural administrations separate. This state government convention changed under the Bjelke-Peterson government and the borders between the two local governments became static. By 1986 the Shire of Thuringowa had grown to a population of 27 000 and was declared a city.
In 1939, Fred Paterson stood successfully as an alderman for the Townsville City Council, becoming the first member of the Communist Party to win such an office in Australia. He was then re-elected in 1943. The same year, he stood for the federal seat of Herbert, but was narrowly defeated. He then contested and won the Bowen seat in the Queensland Parliament, holding it from 1944 until 1950.
A succession of endorsed Australian Labor Party mayors and majority councillors held a continuous civic government from 1976–2008, this was the longest continuous Labor administration in the country until Tony Mooney was defeated in 2008.
Following local government reform undertaken by the State Government of Queensland, the City of Townsville and the City of Thuringowa were amalgamated in 2008. The process of amalgamation was completed on the election of a new combined council on 15 March 2008.
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