Anzac Memorial Park, Townsville
| Anzac Memorial Park | |
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Anzac Memorial Park, 1994
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| Location | The Strand, Townsville CBD, City of Townsville, Queensland, Australia |
| Coordinates | 19°15′18″S 146°49′21″E / 19.255°S 146.8225°ECoordinates: 19°15′18″S 146°49′21″E / 19.255°S 146.8225°E |
| Design period | 1900 – 1914 (early 20th century) |
| Built | 1912 - |
| Official name: Anzac Memorial Park and adjacent Banyan trees, The Strand Park, Townsville War Memorial | |
| Type | state heritage (landscape, built) |
| Designated | 21 October 1992 |
| Reference no. | 600934 |
| Significant period | 1912– (social, historical) 1908, 1913, 1923–24, 1959, 1992 (fabric) |
| Significant components | memorial – fountain, commemorative plaque, bandstand/rotunda, memorial – other, park / green space, memorial – drinking fountain, memorial – clock tower, memorial – gate/s, garden – bed/s, trees/plantings |
 Location of Anzac Memorial Park in Queensland
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Anzac Memorial Park is a heritage-listed memorial and park at The Strand, Townsville CBD, City of Townsville, Queensland, Australia. It was first built in 1912. It is also known as The Strand Park and Townsville War Memorial. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.
Anzac Memorial Park was established as The Strand Park in the 1910s, but the foreshore along The Strand (Townsville's main frontage to Cleveland Bay) had developed as a recreation area from the 1860s, the earliest days of settlement. The whole of the foreshore between King and Howitt Streets was gazetted a temporary reserve for public purposes in February 1901, and a section of this, between the Customs House and King Street, was proclaimed a permanent reserve for park purposes in June 1912.
As early as 1866, Townsville's more affluent residents were constructing homes along the beachfront, and by 1872, three hotels had been erected opposite the present Anzac Memorial Park. The Strand was unformed at this time, being little more than a track along the foreshore, and there were no shade trees, but the beach was popular with bathers (mainly male) from at least the late 1870s. In 1881 the town council planted 30 cedar trees along the foreshore, and added cocoa and betel nut trees in early 1882. In 1883, following strong public demand, a road was made along the beach front to Kissing Point. By 1889, The Strand, between King Street and Kissing Point, made a glorious promenade on a moonlight night when the breeze blew straight and cool from Magnetic Island. Photographs of The Strand in 1888 show banyan trees several years old, as well as more recent plantings, and a reserve for public baths (opposite the then quarry site on The Strand) was gazetted in 1889.
One of the earliest structures erected along the foreshore was an ornamental fountain/bird-bath, extant by 1905, which remained in the park reserve to the 1950s at least. In 1908 a drinking fountain was constructed opposite Queen's Hotel, near the corner of Wickham Street and The Strand. It was located outside the park proper, on the road verge, and was erected as a memorial to William Joseph Castling, a butcher and former Mayor of Townsville. This drinking fountain was moved to the western end of the park, probably during road works after 1924.
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