Stuart is a rural coastal suburb in the

City of Townsville The City of Townsville is a local government area (LGA) located in North Queensland, Australia. It encompasses the city of Townsville, together with the surrounding rural areas, to the south are the communities of Alligator Creek, Woodstock a ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, Australia. In the , Stuart had a population of 1,386 people.

Geography

Stuart is bounded to the north-east by the

Coral Sea The Coral Sea () is a marginal sea of the South Pacific off the northeast coast of Australia, and classified as an interim Australian bioregion. The Coral Sea extends down the Australian northeast coast. Most of it is protected by the Fren ...

. The North Coast railway line forms the western boundary with the Stuart railway station serving the suburb. The

Bruce Highway The Bruce Highway is a major highway in Queensland, Australia. Commencing in the state capital, Brisbane, it passes through areas close to the eastern coast on its way to Cairns in Far North Queensland. The route is part of the Australian Nat ...

passes from the south-east to the north-west through the suburb. The Flinders Highway passes from the south-west to its junction with the Bruce Highway. Most of this large suburb is undeveloped land with the developed land mostly used for infrastructure and industrial purposes. There is a small amount of residential development. The neighbourhood of Partington is within Stuart at . It takes its name from a former railway siding on the North Coast railway line, which in turn was named after Joseph Partington, a local brickmaker.

History

The suburb takes its name from the railway station, which was originally called Ayr Junction railway station in 1902, then Stewarts Creek railway station in 1938 and then Stuart railway station in 1939. It is thought that Stewart was just a temporary misspelling of Stuart and that the intention was to name the area after the first district surveyor appointed in 1865, Clarendon Stuart (1833-1912). Stewart's Creek Provisional School opened on 18 May 1891, becoming Stewart's Creek State School in 1901. In 1939 it was renamed Stuart State School. It closed on 31 December 2013. In December 1942, two classrooms of the Stuart State School on the outskirts of

Townsville Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 180,820 as of June 2018, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland; it is unofficially considered its capital. Estimated resident population, 30 ...

were used by the

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

as the main Army Signals Communication Centre in North Queensland. The unit later moved to a concrete bunker at Roseneath. In the , Stuart had a population of 1,051 people. In the , Stuart had a population of 1,386 people.

Heritage listings

Stuart has a number of

heritage-listed This list is of heritage registers, inventories of cultural properties, natural and man-made, tangible and intangible, movable and immovable, that are deemed to be of sufficient heritage value to be separately identified and recorded. In many i ...

sites, including: * Centenary Drive, off Dwyer Street:

Stewart's Creek Gaol Stewart's Creek Gaol is a heritage-listed prison at Centenary Drive, off Dwyer Street, Stuart, Queensland, Stuart, City of Townsville, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by the Office of the Queensland Colonial Architect and built from 1890 ...

(the historic buildings within the present Townsville Correction Centre) * Off Stuart Drive (now in Wulguru): former Operations and Signals Bunker * 523 Stuart Drive:

St Brigid's Church ST, St, or St. may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Stanza, in poetry * Suicidal Tendencies, an American heavy metal/hardcore punk band * Star Trek, a science-fiction media franchise * Summa Theologica, a compendium of Catholic philosophy ...

Facilities

Infrastructure in Stuart includes: *

Townsville Correctional Centre Townsville Correctional Centre is an Australian prison facility in Stuart, Townsville, Queensland, Australia. The facility has been known in the past as "Her Majesty's Penal Establishment Stewart's Creek", "H.M. Prison Townsville", "Stuart Priso ...

* Stuart landfill and waste transfer station Industries in Stuart include: *

Mount Stuart Power Station The Mount Stuart Power Station is a power station located in Stuart, Townsville, Australia. The station runs on kerosene with three gas turbines that generate a combined capacity of 414 MW of electricity. Mount Stuart was commissioned in Dece ...

* Sun Metals Zinc Refinery

Education

There are no schools in Stuart. The nearest primary schools are Townsville South State School in neighbouring South Townsville to the north-west, Oonooba State School in Idalia to the west, and Wulguru State School in neighbouring Wulguru to the south-west. The nearest secondary school is

William Ross State High School William Ross State High School is an independent public high school situated in the Townsville Suburb of Annandale, North Queensland. William Ross has a student count from grades 7 through to 12 of close to 905 (as of 2020) students which con ...

Annandale Annandale is a name for several places around the world: United Kingdom *Annandale, Dumfries and Galloway, a strath in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland Australia *Annandale, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney *Annandale, Queensland, a suburb of ...

to the west.

References

External links

* {{Suburbs of Townsville Suburbs of Townsville