Moana Kuewa

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		2010.05.28 AUSTRALIA Townsville Location: AUSTRALIA Townsville LOCATION. Lying a little over halfway between Brisbane and Thursday Island that offers every conceivable facility to the boat person. Townsville is Australia's largest tropical city. It is in the southwest corner of Cleveland Bay, easily within sight of Magnetic Island where MOANA KUEWA was moored. HISTORY. Townsville was named after Robert Towns who reluctantly approved of the area as a site for his cattle boiling-down works in the mid 1800s. Situated on the banks of the Ross River, nearby Ross Creek blossomed as a place of settlement and expansion until it became Queensland’s largest northern city and once the intended capital for a new state that never eventuated. From the mouth of the Ross Creek, a breakwater harbor was built capable of handling the largest merchant ship of the period. Regular dredging and expansion has kept it in line with ship development. Townsville is the main outlet for inland Mount Isa Mines and Greenvale Nickel to the north, and since the 1950s has been a major bulk sugar exporter. Now it has added a number of attractions aimed at increasing tourism. These include the living corals of Reef Wonderland Aquarium, the Tropical Museum, Omnimax Theater and casino. WORLD WAR II. During the Second World War, Townsville was a major base for Australian and American forces. Warships and aircraft based at Townsville covered troopships and supply convoys off the coast. In 1942, Townsville based American bombers attacked targets in Papua New Guinea. In July of that year, Japanese flying boats bombed the town causing little damage. In May 1942, the Battle of the Coral Sea was fought to the east and north-east of Townsville. Allied navel and air forces intercepted and turned back a Japanese invasion fleet heading for the key allied base in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. American carrier based aircraft also engaged enemy planes and carriers in the largest navel air battle ever fought off Australia’s shores. Many allied servicemen and women were based at Townsville. Thousands of others passed through while being shipped or flown to and from the battlefields in the islands’ to the north. Military camps, supply depot, hospitals and other facilities were built. Servicemen and women on leave were a feature of wartime Townsville. Traveling Individuals Names: Jeffrey Cheske & Christine Bauman * Some of the descriptions & picture are taken from the Cruising the Coral Coast by Alan Lucas[ & Townsville War Memorial