Looking up Gill Street with the Post Office tower on the right

Charters Towers
Superb historic mining town full of gracious buildings and surrounded by numerous unusual and interesting attractions.
Charters Towers is arguably the most beautiful inland city in Queensland. It may not have the range of domestic architecture that makes Ipswich so distinctive but in terms of public architecture it is unrivalled. Like Kalgoorlie, Cue and Coolgardie in Western Australia it is a city built from the proceeds of goldmining and, as such, the city fathers (a quixotic band of nouveau riche miners) were determined to flaunt their wealth.

Located 130 km south-west of Townsville, 1506 km from Brisbane via Townsville and 310 m above sea-level, Charters Towers lies on gently undulating country 138 km east of the Great Dividing Range. It is about 200 km east of the edge of the vast flat plains which extend across to the Gulf of Carpentaria and into far western Queensland.

There is considerable dispute about the town's name. One claim is that the prospector Hugh Mosman named the area 'Charters Tors' after W.S.E.M. Charters who was the mining warden at Ravenswood. It is true that there are three low-lying hills around the town which could be described as 'tors'. Whatever the case the name was very short-lived. In the Ravenswood Miner, just a month after gold was discovered in December 1871, the area was referred to as Charters Towers.

The story goes that Mosman and his party, which included George Clarke and James Fraser, made their way to the hills. A young Aboriginal boy whom they called Jupiter, who was accompanying the group, lent down to drink from the local creek while looking for horses that had bolted in a thunderstorm. He saw gold-bearing quartz gleaming below the surface and took it back to his employer who rode to Mosman Ravenswood to register the claim and so the rush was on. Mosman, who was rewarded by the government, adopted Jupiter and educated him in the European manner.

This story, apocryphal or not, is recalled in the Bicentennial Mosman and Jupiter statues which are located in Centenary Park at the corner of Hackett Terrace and Dalrymple Road - the main access roads from Townsville and the Atherton Tablelands.

The Bicentennial Mosman and Jupiter statues in Centenary Park at the corner of Hackett Terrace and Dalrymple Road

The discovery of gold led to a gold rush and the establishment of the usual shanty town dwellings in the area. However, shortly afterwards, reef gold was found and the settlement became more permanent. It was around this time that Charters Towers got the nickname 'The World'.

The rewards from the goldmining activities were huge. In 1878 the Day Dawn Gold Mining Company Ltd was floated with shares of ten shillings. Within a year it had paid a dividend of seven shillings and six pence. The Victory Company was so successful that it virtually repaid its original share price within three months.

During the 1880s and 1890s the town grew and prospered. Hundreds of goldmining companies were floated, the railway arrived in 1882, a miners union was established in 1886 and, in 1893, Andrew Dawson (who went on to become the first Labour premier in the world in 1899 when he became Queensland premier) was elected as the local member. In 1884 'Breaker' Morant married Daisy May O'Dwyer (later Daisy Bates) in Charters Towers. He abandoned his wife shortly afterwards when a number of his cheques were dishonoured. It was during this exuberant and dynamic period that a number of solid Victorian buildings were constructed to reflect the town's more permanent wealth.

By 1897 the editor of the North Queensland Mining Register could write in his Mining History of Charters Towers:

'All in 25 years. The well-wooded and comparatively flat basin surrounding the small ridges below the Gap, through which the Pioneers came, has long since been denuded of its trees. Streets of fine shops and residences have sprung up, cold air stores, telephones, electric light, gaslight, electric fans and other adjuncts of up-to-date civilisation are employed, and 20 000 souls now sleep nightly with a radius of four miles of the spot where the prospectors pitched their first camp a little over 25 years ago. The three workers of that time have increased to 4 000 with nearly three quarters of a million pounds worth of machinery to aid in the hunt for gold.'

It was a sign of the extent of local business activity that one of Australia's few regional stock exchanges was established at Charters Towers in 1890 to raise capital for the area's deep reef mines. It was connec ted to the world beyond via telegraph. However, The town started to decline in 1912 when the production of gold dropped from a high of 319 572 ounces in 1899 to a mere 96 046. This decline was accompanied by a drop in population from 30 000 in 1899 to 16 000 in 1915. The stock exchange closed in 1916.

In recent times Charters Towers achieved a brush with fame when it became the subject of one of the songs on John Williamson's hugely successful Warragul album. The Cattleman's Rest Motel and the local Caltex dealer come in for special praise in the song which is evocative of the town and the area. Also parts of the film The Irishman were filmed in the area.

There are a number of excellent maps and booklets on Charters Towers. The best short overview of the city's golden days is Charters Towers and its Stock Exchange by Don Roderick and published by the National Trust of Queensland. The Charters Towers Tourist Information Map (produced by the local Development Bureau) and A Guide to Charters Towers and The Dalrymple Shire are available at the Visitor Information Centre at 74 Mosman Street.

A particularly interesting publication is the local Lions Club's Pocket Encylopaedia of 101 Facts about Charters Towers and Dalrymple Shire which includes such gems as the town once had 92 pubs (this may, in fact, be inaccurate as other sources claim as many as 104 pubs at the peak of the mining boom) and the deepest shaft dug during the gold mining era reached 926.6 m below the surface.

Things to see:  

The Visitor Information and Orientation Centre
The centre, at 74 Mosman St, is a good place to start an exploration of the city. It has interactive displays and audio-visual presentations relating to the town's past and offers informative guided daily tours of the town's attractions, known as the Ghosts of Gold Heritage Trail. It takes in attractions otherwise inaccessible to the public, such as the Assay Room and Mining Museum, tel: (07) 4752 0314.

Buildings - Mosman St (including the Zara Clark Museum and the Stock Exchange Building)
Charters Towers has a large number of elegant and historically significant buildings most of which are located on Mosman and Gill Streets. In this area and in the surrounding streets there are over 60 buildings of historical significance.

One of the most interesting buildings in Mosman Street is the Zara Clark Museum, a National Trust-owned and run centre which was o nce a general merchant's shop. It has an interesting collection of local memorabilia.

Further up the street is the City Hall, which was built in 1891 at the height of the town's wealth. It was originally the Queensland National Bank. It is a good symbol of how, in the 1890s, the town needed to show the rest of the world how prosperous it was. Nearby is the former Australian Bank of Commerce which is a reminder that financial crashes are not new. The bank was built, in the most ostentatious style imaginable, by the Australian Joint Stock Bank in 1891. The bank collapsed the following year. At 74 Mosman Street the old Union Bank has been completely restored and now houses the Charters Towers Visitor Information Centre.

The centre of the town's financial district was located at the intersection of Mosman and Gill Streets. Built in 1887-8 as a shopping arcade, 'The Royal Arcade' housed the Charters Towers Stock Exchange from 1890 to 1916. Connected to the outside world via telegraph, it was established to raise capital for the area's deep reef mines but its closure in 1916 reflected diminishing gold returns and a declining population.

The choice of the Royal Arcade was an obvious one. The proximity to banks, mining offices and the nearby Exchange Hotel made it an ideal venue. The exchange closed down in 1916 as gold returns, and the population, declined. Today it is used by local businesses and specialty shops. The "Calling of the Card" audio presentation operates at the former Stock Exchange four times daily and there are guided tours available, tel: (07) 4752 0314.

The Stock Exchange Arcade is but one of the elegant buildings in Mosman Street. There is also the City Hall and the Australian Bank of Commerce. The latter has been restored as The World Theatre and is now used as a combination of civic theatre, cinema, gift shop, restaurant and public art gallery. Guided tours are available of this complecx which blends the heritage architecture of the original building with state of the art theatre technology .

These buildings were characterised by the prevailing, and rather ostentatious, architecture of the time which was a combination of Classical Revival (with lots of columns) and Victorian Italianate ornamentation.

Buildings - Gill St
One of Gill Street's more interesting buildings isthe Post Office in Gill Street (1892), with a huge clock tower that dominates the town. The clock was added to the building in 1898 after being imported from England. At 36 Gill Street is the former Bank of New South Wales (1880) which is a near perfect example of the Classical Revival style of architecture which was all the rage at the time.

While having a number of imposing bank and public buildings at the Mosman Street end, Gill St is far more the commercial heart of the old city. It has some truly fascinating shops. Until recently Stan Pollards Store still had a flying fox for cash transactions. Money received from transactions was placed into small containers which were then propelled up wires to the cash clerk who was located on a mezzanine floor above the counters. He calculated the change and sent it whizzing back down to the counters. This extraordinary device was a common feature of large country stores until the 1950s. The flying fox has been removed to the Zara Clark Museum. It is hoped that it will be reinstated so it can be demonstrated. Also in Gill St is the restored former ambulance station.

Other Buildings (including Ay-Ot Lookout)
A couple of blocks north of the main street (Gill Street) is Lissner Park with the elegant Boer War Memorial Rotunda. It was built in 1910 to commemorate the town's war dead and its unusual ventilators and delicate, almost Victorian, styling make it a building of exceptional beauty.

The elegant Boer War Memorial Rotunda in Lissner Park

To the west of the town centre, in Hodginson Street (corner of High St), is Ay-Ot Lookout (1896) - a remarkable wooden Victorian residence with some particularly striking latticework and mouldings. It is open to the public weekdays and, by arrangement only, on weekends, tel: (07) 4752 0314. Also in Hodgkinson St is the old Court House (1886), which took ten months to build, at a cost of £4565, and (between Hodginson and Gill Streets) St Columba's Bell Tower (1887), which has been designed to look like a mine poppet head.

The Venus Gold Battery
No visit to Charters Towers would be complete without a guided tour through the old Venus Gold Battery (drive east on Gill Street-Millchester Road five kilometres from the Post Office and follow the signs). The Gold Battery itself is acknowledged as one of Australia's most important historical-industrial sites. It was one of the first permanent batteries on the Charters Towers goldfields, being established in 1872, when it was a public mill, becoming a state battery from 1919 until its closure in 1973. It is the largest surviving battery relic in Australia and the oldest surviving battery in Queensland. Although it has not been operational since 1973, guided daily tours provide a rare insight into the scale of activity on the goldfields in the early days.

Since June 2003 the Venus Gold Battery has become part of the Ghosts of Gold Heritage Trail. Here visitors can watch an audio-visual presentation of the battery and the process used in extracting gold from out of the quartz within which it was embedded. The second viewing features the Ghosts of Gold on the spectacular water screen.

The Venus Gold Battery is open from 9.30 a.m. - 4.30 p.m. Of the 29 batteries that operated in Charters Towers only the Venus Battery still exists.

Lookouts
There are a couple of good lookouts which offer excellent views over the town and the surrounding area. The best is undoubtedly Towers Hill Lookout (ask at the Venus Battery for directions), which rises about 125 metres above the plain. It has interpretive displays and an amphitheatre where a film about the history of Charters Towers screen at night-time. Another local lookout is the Rotary Lookout, signposted off Mosman Street.

Swimming and Fishing
15 km east of the Venus Gold Battery is the Flat Rock camping reserve with two kilometres of frontage onto the Burdekin River. It is an excellent fishing and swimming spot. Fishing can also be enjoyed at Burdekin Dam which is stocked annually with barramundi.

10 Days in the Towers/The Country Music Festival
Commencing in 2004, the Country Music Festival (occurring on the May Day weekend) has been incorporated into 10 Days in the Towers which, as it suggests, is carried out over ten days filled with line dancing, bush poetry, workshops, street busking etc.

	Tourist Information
	Charters Towers Visitor Information Centre 74 Mosman St Charters Towers QLD 4820 Telephone: (07) 4752 0314 Facsimile: (07) 4752 0315 Email: tourinfo@charterstowers.qld.gov.au
	Motels
	Cattlemanšs Rest Motor Inn Bridge St Charters Towers QLD 4820 Telephone: (07) 4787 3555
	Charters Towers Heritage Lodge Motel Flinders Hwy Charters Towers QLD 4820 Telephone: (07) 4787 4088 Rating: ****
	Charters Towers Motel Hackett Tce Charters Towers QLD 4820 Telephone: (07) 4787 1366 Rating: **1/2
	Country Road Motel Flinders Hwy Charters Towers QLD 4820 Telephone: (07) 4787 2422 Rating: ***
	Hillview Motel Flinders Hwy Charters Towers QLD 4820 Telephone: (07) 4787 1973
	Park Motel 1 Mosman St Charters Towers QLD 4820 Telephone: (07) 4787 1022 Rating: ***
	Waverley Motel 19 Mosman St Charters Towers QLD 4820 Telephone: (07) 4787 2591
	Hotels
	Commercial Hotel 151 Mosman St Charters Towers QLD 4820 Telephone: (07) 4787 1391
	Court House Motel Gill St Charters Towers QLD 4820 Telephone: (07) 4787 1187
	Crown Hotel Mosman St Charters Towers QLD 4820 Telephone: (07) 4787 2471
	Enterprise Hotel 217 Gill St Charters Towers QLD 4820 Telephone: (07) 4787 2404
	Rix Hotel/Motel 69 Mosman St Charters Towers QLD 4820 Telephone: (07) 4787 1605
	Bed & Breakfast/Guesthouses
	York Street B&B York St Charters Towers QLD 4820 Telephone: (07) 4787 1028
	Bluff Downs Guest Farm (Historic property) Lynd Junction Charters Towers QLD 4820 Telephone: (07) 4770 4084
	Caravan Parks
	Aussie Outback Oasis Cabin & Van Village Gregory Development Rd Charters Towers QLD 4820 Telephone: (07) 4787 8722 Rating: ****
	Charters Towers Caravan Park 37 Mt Leyshon Rd Charters Towers QLD 4820 Telephone: (07) 4787 7944 Facsimile: (07) 4787 7906 Rating: ***
	Dalrymple Caravan Park Lynd Hwy Charters Towers QLD 4820 Telephone: (07) 4787 1121 Rating: ***1/2
	Mexican Tourist Park 75 Church St Charters Towers QLD 4820 Telephone: (07) 4787 1161
	Restaurants
	Enterprise Hotel Steakhouse Gill St Charters Towers QLD 4820 Telephone: (07) 4787 2404
	Gold City Chinese Restaurant 118 Gill St Charters Towers QLD 4820 Telephone: (07) 4787 2414
	Gold Mine Chinese Restaurant 80 Mosman St Charters Towers QLD 4820 Telephone: (07) 4787 7609
	Henry's 82-90 Mosman St Charters Towers QLD 4820 Telephone: (07) 4787 4333
	Lissner's Restaurant Cnr Mosman & Dean Sts Charters Towers QLD 4820 Telephone: (07) 4787 1022
	The Steakhouse Restaurant Cattlemanšs Rest Motor Inn Bridge St Charters Towers QLD 4820 Telephone: (07) 4787 3555