Prior to 2008, the new City of Townsville was an entire area of two previous and distinct local government areas: • the former
City of Townsville; • and the
City of Thuringowa. The City of Townsville was first established as the
Borough of Townsville under the
Municipal Institutions Act 1864 on 15 February 1866. The surrounding rural area, which was given the name
Thuringowa Division, was established on 11 November 1879 as one of 74 divisions around Queensland under the
Divisional Boards Act 1879. On 31 March 1903, Thuringowa Division became the
Shire of Thuringowa and Townsville was granted city status under the
Local Authorities Act 1902, the ancestor of the current
Local Government Act 1993. The borders of the Townsville municipality were expanded to keep pace with urban growth in 1882, 1918, 1936, 1958 and 1964 – the purpose of expanding the borders was to keep urban and rural administrations separate. This state government convention changed under the
Bjelke-Petersen government and the borders between the two local governments became static. By 1986 the Shire of Thuringowa had grown to a population of 27,000 and was declared a city. In 1939,
Fred Paterson stood successfully as an alderman for the Townsville City Council, becoming the first member of the
Communist Party to win such an office in Australia. He was then re-elected in 1943. The same year, he stood for the
federal seat of Herbert, but was narrowly defeated. He then contested and won the
Bowen seat in the
Queensland Parliament, holding it from 1944 until 1950. From 1942 to 1949, the council was held by a majority of members of the pro-soviet Labor party split, the
North Queensland Labor Party. A succession of endorsed
Labor Party mayors and majority councillors held a continuous civic government from 1976–2008. This was the longest continuous Labor administration in the country until
Tony Mooney was defeated in 2008. Following local government reform undertaken by the State
Government of Queensland, the City of Townsville and the
City of Thuringowa were amalgamated in 2008. The process of amalgamation was completed on the election of a new combined
council on 15 March 2008. == Mayors ==