The Electoral district of Townsville was created in 1878, then the Additional Members Act of 1885 (which took effect late 1885 / early 1886) was divided in two, one retaining the name of Townsville, the other becoming
Musgrave which existed until 1923. From late 1885 it was determined that the Townsville Electorate would elect two representatives to the Legislative Assembly. Premier
Robert Philp (Premier 1899–1903 and 1907–08) was elected as one of the two Townsville members when his previous Electorate of Musgrave absorbed. His parliamentary activity was mainly in support of North Queensland and his own business interests - extending railway links to North Queensland, and the abolition of import tariffs. When the import of Pacific Islanders was temporarily halted in 1892 Philp was instrumental in securing its resumption. In 1912 the
Electoral district of Mundingburra was created to accommodate for the return to universal single member electorates. 1923 saw the further reduction in size of the Electorate with the northern part of the city ceded to
Kennedy and the southern part to
Mundingburra, and in 1959 it was abolished and divided into the two electorates of
Townsville South and
Townsville North. The 1971 redistribution recreated the Electorate with new neighbours,
Townsville West and
Townsville South, Townsville included most of the Northern part of the City and some rural areas which were formerly in
Hinchinbrook. The Electorate was reduced in size again in 1986 redistribution with a new neighbour of
Townsville East. When Townsville East was abolished in 1991 Townsville Electorate gained land but lost land in the South-West corner to the newly re-created seat of Mundingburra. In
1998 Mike Reyolds was elected as the new Member for the Townsville Electorate taking over from retiring Labor Member Ken
Geoff Smith and was immediately appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the
Premier in North Queensland. After increasing the Townsville margin in 2001 Reynolds was promoted to Cabinet as Minister for Emergency Services and Minister Assisting the Premier in North Queensland. In 2004, Reynolds was moved to the new Child Safety Ministry with
Ministerial responsibilities for adoptions, child protection services, foster/kinship carers etc. After the
2006 election, Reynolds was elected as
Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland by the
52nd Parliament on 10 October 2006. ==Members for Townsville==