The Charters Towers Region stands on Gudjal lands, as well as Gugu Badhun, Yirrandali and Jangga lands. It has been the spiritual and physical home of these peoples for tens of thousands of years. 

The first white explorers began travelling these lands throughout the 1800s and the township of Ravenswood was established in 1868. Prospectors Hugh Mosman, George Clark and John Fraser, accompanied by an Aboriginal boy known as Jupiter Mosman set out into new country in 1871, searching for gold. 

One night a storm sprang up, and the fierce lighting and winds scared the packhorses who took off into the bush. The next morning the party spread out looking for them, and it was then that Jupiter noticed some specks of 'colour' in a creek bed at the base of what is now called Towers Hill. He reported it to the rest of the party, and the find was registered at Ravenswood in January 1892. The rush for gold began.

The goldfield was named Charters Towers, after the Gold Commissioner at the time, William Skelton Ewbank Melbourne Charters (WSEM Charters), while according to legend the 'Towers' part comes from the tors, or towers of the surrounding hills.

By the end of that year, 1872, there were over 3000 people camped around Gladstone Creek, forming a township known as Millchester due to the many mills which quickly sprang up there, as well as the 'top camp' of Charters Towers.

Where miners went, suppliers and trades followed: there were soon banks, assayers, butchers, bakers, blacksmiths, hotels and more. Police stations and court houses weren't far behind.

The town grew quickly and was declared a Municipality in 1877. The town was administered by the Charters Towers Municipal Council (later Charters Towers City Council), while the outer areas were administered by the Dalrymple Divisional Board (later Dalrymple Shire Council).

Peak mining production was reached in the late 1880s and 1890s. The population boomed out to around 30,000 people, who came from all over the globe. The variation of cultures and languages condensed in such a small area led to the nickname of 'The World'. 

While the town grew in size and grandeur, with increasingly large and beautiful buildings and homes, the surrounding district flourished as well. Cattle stations sprang up everywhere, as well as orchards and farms of all types. The railway was put through from Townsville in 1882, and the Weir was constructed in 1902 to create a steady water supply for the town. 

However, that which goes up must come down and the gold supply began to wear down. Charters Towers saw a steady decline over the 1920s, shrinking in population as the miners left. Houses and even hotels were sold and transported to Townsville, Ayr and out west. 

The focus of the town became its cattle industry and as an educational hub, with three girls' colleges - Blackheath, St Marys and St Gabriels, and four boys' colleges - Thornburgh, Mt Carmel, All Souls and the State High School, as well as primary schools such as Millchester, Central, Richmond Hill and Queenton State Schools. Later a School of the Air (School of Distance Education) was opened up to help service the more remote families.

Charters Towers has continued to ebb and flow with the changing times. While mining, education and cattle are still strong industries in the district, the tourism industry has become vital to the future of the town, with our beautifully preserved historical main streets proving popular with visitors. Many families from all over Australia, and even the rest of the world have a family tie to this small country town, with an ancestor who lived and worked here during the boom of the gold fields.