Extract From the Wikipedia Entry on Charters Towers

Charters Towers is a city in northern Queensland, Australia. It is located 135 kilometres south-west from Townsville on the Flinders Highway.

Charters Towers is a centre for the beef industry and is particularly known for the number of boarding schools which cater for remote rural families. It obtains its water supply from the nearby Burdekin River.

The town was founded in the 1870s when gold was found in the area, and rapidly grew to become a regional centre. Many of the older buildings of the mining boom remain, giving a distinct character to a town which appears out of place in a dry arid region. Although quite a few still exist in Charters Towers, many of the distinctive miner's cottages were dismantled after the boom times and relocated to Townsville and other places, where large numbers of these galvanised iron dwellings are still in use.