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Kissing Point Fortification & Jezzine Barracks (part)

38-40 Howitt Street, North Ward

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Jezzine Barracks (2016); Heritage Branch Staff

Jezzine Barracks (2016)

Kissing Point Fortification (2016); Heritage Branch Staff

Kissing Point Fortification (2016)

Jezzine Barracks (2016); Heritage Branch Staff

Jezzine Barracks (2016)

Kissing Point Fortification and walking trail (2016); Heritage Branch Staff

Kissing Point Fortification and walking trail (2016)

Kissing Point and Castle Hill (2016); Paddy Waterson

Kissing Point and Castle Hill (2016)

Kissing Point Fortification & Jezzine Barracks; Townsville Library

Kissing Point Fortification & Jezzine Barracks

Jezzine barracks (2016); Paddy Waterson

Jezzine barracks (2016)

Kissing Point Fort and Jezzine Barracks are now a 15ha open space precinct, about 2.5km north of the Townsville CBD. The site features extensive walking trails, interpretation of the Indigenous history, and the military history of the site, interspersed with 32 commissioned public artworks. Significant elements of the 1891 fort have been restored. It was part of the Queensland coastal defence scheme which included Fort Lytton, and Green Hill Fort on Thursday Island. The site was gazetted in 1886, concurrently with the establishment of the 3rd Queensland (Kennedy) Regiment. The fortress construction included two mounted guns and numerous buildings. The Kennedy Regiment was relocated to Charters Towers in 1887, and distinguished itself during the Boer War, and later in WWI. During WWII, Kissing Point housed training encampments. The area to the south-west of the fortification was renamed Jezzine Barracks in 1941, honouring the recent successful campaign at Jezzine in Beirut. The Kennedy Regiment returned here following WWII. In 1957, the reserve was subdivided and the foreshores transferred to the council. The site became superfluous to the needs of the Defence Department in late 1960s and the Australian Army Museum of North Queensland was established here.

Coordinates: -19.23896693, 146.80442206

Full details of this heritage-registered place are in the Heritage register.

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Licence
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Last reviewed
1 July 2022
Last updated
28 February 2023