STRAND BY ME
City’s jewel needs more development
THE jewel in Townsville’s crown still needs a wave pool and further development.
This month marks 20 years since the Strand was redeveloped and former mayor Tony Mooney, the father of the project, urged the city to protect and improve the asset.
THE father of Townsville’s Strand redevelopment, former mayor Tony Mooney, has urged the city to protect its most valuable community asset and push ahead with plans for a lagoon or wave pool.
He also believed incentives for restaurant and bar developments should be considered to provide more services right along the premier seafront strip.
Mr Mooney was commenting as the city is set to mark 20 years since the redevelopment which ushered in a wave of civic pride and golden era in Townsville’s development.
The $40 million makeover was achieved against the staunch opposition of some businesses and with a local design team which completed the job in just 12 months.
Also, while it attracted $15 million in State Government support, the Federal Government of the day chose not to contribute more than the $2-$3 million in disaster relief funding paid because of damage to the seafront and assets from storms which prompted the work.
Mr Mooney believed no other project had a bigger impact on the city during his 30odd years in public life.
“For me, The Strand was so much more than a bit of hard community infrastructure,” Mr Mooney said.
“It was truly a project that changed the way Townsville people looked at themselves and regarded themselves. For a long time Townsville did not have a strong sense of community pride and what it had achieved.
“The Strand gave people a sense of pride with a community asset that was really world class.”
Initially, the thinking was to reinstate the damaged Strand road and a rock wall which had been installed by a former council.
But the wall blocked views of the sea from the roadway and acted as a barrier to the beach.
Mr Mooney said it had been a hallway discussion with then council engineer Bob Neunhoffer which planted the seed of an idea.
The council could do something more special if it could get the funds.
He said the then state Labor leader Peter Beattie, running for the 1998 election, had called him to see if there was any project that could be supported and the Strand was raised.
“The council used the state funding, that bit of disaster funding from the Federal Government and our own money from the ratepayers to build that project,” he said.
Mr Mooney said the council opted for a lower, broader rock wall which runs under the Strand and the development of headlands or groins to form bays to better hold sand against erosion.
Some additional features were planned which did not make the cut.
The Strand jetty was intended to be longer but was shortened to overcome environmental constraints raised by the presence of seagrass in the bay, while the reconstruction of the Rockpool was avoided because of cost.
“The reconstruction of the Rockpool and having a wave pool would have been a massive increase in the budget. Because we didn’t get the federal support the city couldn’t afford it,” Mr Mooney said.
But he hoped the city would continue efforts to develop a water feature to add to the Strand’s water park which was hugely popular with families and had been copied by other
communities. “It’s been a longheld view of mine that a lagoon or wave pool is something that should happen,” Mr Mooney said.
“I hope the council of today can give consideration to it, if not on the Strand then somewhere in the city,” Mr Mooney said. “It would be truly magnificent and, I think, a great addition for Townsville and the region.”
He said the council should, as a priority, ensure that the Strand was maintained and consider what incentives could be provided to attract more restaurants and bars right along the seafront.
“I’d hate to see a sardine city. I don’t support wall-towall high rise on the Strand but there’s certainly scope for more development and especially development that brings people,” he said.