I get quite a few hits on my blog from people searching for the populations of Queensland cities, particularly Townsville, given an old post of mine: Is Townsville or Cairns the capital of North Qld?. Hence I’ve decided to chart Queensland Treasury’s estimates of the 2012 populations of Queensland’s urban centres and localities (see chart below based on the Treasury data). For those interested in the pointless debate about the capital of North Queensland, Townsville is clearly ahead of Cairns on the Treasury data.
Update: As discussed in the comments on this post, the Queensland Treasury data I used in this post rolled Ipswich, Logan, Redlands, and Moreton Bay into the Brisbane “urban centre”. For a presentation of the data by local government area, see my post:
Qld councils & the 80:20 rule – 81% of Queenslanders live in just 12 out of 78 LGAs
Queensland Economy Watch 
The 180,000 population of Ipswich will be disappointed they have been deleted from their rightful place of 4th largest city, and have dropped from the list altogether. They certainly won’t appreciate being lumped in with Brisbane population figures.
The twin city rivalry along the East Coast is always interesting – Townsville V Cairns, Rockhampton V Mackay , Bundaberg V Maryborough . Particularly difficult for our planners when trying to distribute health and transport services.
Toowoomba seems to be the centre to watch, exceptional growth and interest in this regional centre.
Good point about Ipswich being lumped in with Brisbane. Paul Pisasale wouldn’t be very happy about this!
Gene – I notice Logan City is not acknowledged in its own right.
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Yes, you’re right Jim. Like Ipswich, it’s been lumped in with Brisbane.
Must admit I had to look up Bongaree-Woorim on goggle maps – I had never heard of it. Though it might be a booming resource town. Strange this Bribie Island settlement get a rating in the top 20 – and Ipswich and Logan City don’t . Weird !
Yes, I had thought this urban centre and localities data set might be more informative than looking at populations by local government areas, but given the weird results I now think it may not be a good way to look at the data. Thanks for your comment.
You guys forgot Redcliffe city population of 51,174 according to wikipedia
Michael, thanks for the comment. As with Logan and Ipswich, in the Treasury data it’s combined with Brisbane. I’ll try to split them out from Brisbane and redo the chart.
Ipswich seems to be missing. It is not part of Brisbane
Thanks Pam. Yes, that’s a problem with the data set I’ve used in this post. Ipswich and Logan are included as part of Brisbane.
Based on local government boundaries, you can see Ipswich’s ranking in population terms in my latest post…
Where is Ipswich in this list?
Hi John, unfortunately it’s rolled up into the Brisbane “urban centre” in the data set I used. Here’s a link to a post of mine with the data presented for local government areas: