Charters Towers, Queensland, Australia

Charters Towers, Queensland
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Charters_towers.jpg
Author: Rob and Stephanie Levy


Charters Towers is a city on the inland part of northern Queensland, Australia. Located 137 km southwest of Townsville, it has a population of approximately 8,000 people (2012 estimate).

The founding of Charters Towers goes back to Christmas Eve of 1871, when 12-year-old Aboriginal boy Jupiter Mossman chanced upon gold ore at Towers Hill. This attracted prospectors to the area. A gold mining settlement was established and named after W.S.E.M Charters, the Gold Commissioner.

Between 1872 and 1899, Charters Towers grew at such a dizzying pace that it even had its own stock exchange. At one time around 1882, its population swelled to 30,000, rivalling that of Brisbane. However, by the 20th century, the mines in Charters Towers were depleted, and further mining activities became uneconomical.

With a decline in the mining industry, Charters Towers turned to other economic activities including the pastoral industry and education. It became the site for boarding schools educating children from remote rural families. In recent years, the rising price of gold made it worthwhile to reopen the mines, and production began again in 2006, 89 years after the mines were closed.

The Municipal Library of Charters Towers
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Municipal_Library.jpg
Author: MichaelGG

Visiting Charters Towers

From Townsville, take State Highway A6 (Flinders Highway) heading south till you reach Charters Towers.

Places of Interest in Charters Towers

Back to Discover Australia

 Latest updates on Penang Travel Tips

About this website

Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.

While I try my best to provide you information as accurate as I can get it to be, I do apologize for any errors and for outdated information which I am unaware. Nevertheless, I hope that what I have described here will be useful to you.