Freshwater & Lagoon Trails

Town Common Conservation Park - Townsville

Acknowledging the Bindal and Wulgurukaba people as the traditional owners and first people to live in the Townsville region for thousands of years and many generations.

The Freshwater and Lagoon trails form a 7.2 km circuit around the coastal wetlands of the Town Common Conservation Park.  Located a short 7km drive from Townsville CBD, turning off Cape Pallarenda Road at Rowes Bay Golf Course, you follow the unsealed road for another 5km to reach the Town Common nature reserve.

This place is a paradise for wetland birdlife

Sharing this waterhole are spoonbills, egrets, heron and ibis

 Pelicans are part of the scene

Beautiful Brolgas

200m walk from the Town Common carpark is Freshwater Bird Hide overlooking the wetlands.  

More than 300 bird species have been recorded in the wetlands of Town Common. (1)

Magpie Goose

 

White-face Heron

Intermediate Egret

Pied Cormorant

The trail is shared between hikers and mountain bikers

Bald Rock - Mount Marlow

The wetlands have formed over thousands of years.  In recent history, the area was gazetted in 1869 as common land for the people of Townsville, and was used for cattle grazing and to spell horses.  Town Common became a conservation park in 1983.

References

1. Birds of the Townsville Region - City of Townsville

https://www.townsville.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0027/79704/Birdwatching-16ppDL-web.pdf