Castle Hill, Townsville

About

Castle Hill is a heritage-listed isolated pink granite monolith in the suburb of Castle Hill, City of Townsville, Queensland, Australia. Its Indigenous name is Cootharinga, sometimes written as Cooderinga. It rises to a height of some 286 metres (938 ft) above sea level and dominates the city skyline. It is one of the most distinctive natural features on the Queensland coast. There are a number of vantage points from which to view the city below and also across Cleveland Bay to nearby Magnetic Island. Castle Hill (as a hill) was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register in 1993.

The hill is an inselberg of Carboniferous–Permian origins, rising abruptly from the younger Quaternary coastal plain. The surface is primarily bare rock or shallow lithosols with small areas of duplex soils. There are three peaks to the summit. There is a former quarry site on the southern slopes, accessed via Stagpole Street, and on the northern cliff face a large graffiti of 'The Saint' is painted. The bitumen "Castle Hill Road" winds for 2.6 kilometres (1.6 mi) from the northeast slopes to the summit of the second peak, on which the Hynes Lookout platform has been erected. There are several buildings and installations on the hill. On the southern face was a two-storeyed octagonal building of concrete block work, which formerly housed the Panorama Restaurant, which has now been demolished. A carpark associated with the former restaurant is located nearby to the north. Other structures on the site include several water reservoirs and three radio communication installations. On the northernmost peak of the summit is a 1942 observation post, a low, square, concrete bunker with observation apertures.

In 1873, Robert Towns, the founder of Townsville, died in Sydney and was buried in Balmain Cemetery. In 1940, the Municipality of Leichhardt decided to replace that cemetery with parkland (called Pioneers Memorial Park). The plans were advertised and families were invited to arrange for re-interment of bodies or removal of memorials. In 1941, the Leichhardt Council offered the memorial from the grave of Robert Towns to the Townsville City Council. In January 1942, Townsville City Council voted to accept the memorial and transport it to Townsville at a cost of £23/10/-. The decision to accept the monument was opposed by two councillors, one claiming that Robert Towns had done nothing for Townsville and it was only sheer good luck that caused the city to bear his name. A local resident, Tom Gleeson, proposed "high on the peak of Castle Hill, overlooking the harbour" would be a suitable location for the monument. Having arrived in Townsville, the monument was then placed in storage for a number of years. It was not until October 1947 that the Council discussed where to place the monument. A number of locations were considered: Castle Hill, the Botanic Gardens, in front of the Queens Hotel, the Anzac Memorial Park and the Railway Oval, but Castle Hill was ultimately the council's choice. In February 1948, the Queensland Government gave its approval to the council to place the monument in the centre of the car parking area on the top of Castle Hill. Over two years later, in November 1949, the monument was finally placed on Castle Hill, where it stands to the present day. A plaque was added to explain the origins of the monument.

The vegetation, largely regenerative, is dominated by indigenous plant species. Approximately 300 plant species have been identified. Of particular importance are:

Sarcochilus ceciliae (Orchidaceae), for which Castle Hill is the type locality, first described by renowned German-Australian botanist Ferdinand von Mueller in 1865; Aristida sp. nov. (Poaceae) Arthragrostis sp. nov. (Poaceae), both endemic to Castle Hill and currently being examined for description as new species; and Trodia stenostachya (Poaceae), a hummock grass community which represents an unusual coastal occurrence of this more typically inland spinifex. The plant communities are predominantly mixed Eucalyptus spp. (E. drepaniphylla, E. dolichocarpa, E. tessellaris, E. Platyphylla, E. papuana) with variable woody understorey. Small areas of semi-evergreen notophyll vine thickets, not native to the site, occur in mesic areas such as gullies. On the gentler slopes kangaroo grass (Themeda triandra) is the dominant herbaceous species, while giant spear grass (Heteropogon triticeus) dominates on the steeper slopes. Specialised flora also occur on the cliffs and rocky outcrops, in particular the Triodia hummock grass community, Ficus spp. (five species) and orchids (two species). Introduced flora comprised almost 50 species, including Ficus benghalensis (Banyan).

Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA). Photography via Wikimedia Commons.