The Strand is a seaside foreshore located in Townsville, Australia. It is located in the suburb of North Ward. The Strand has a view of the Port of Townsville and Magnetic Island, as well as to Cape Cleveland. Features in the area include a jetty, a recreational park, restaurants, cafes and pools. History The Strand has been a part of Townsville's history since the city was founded in the mid-19th century. A public outdoor swimming baths were first constructed between 1886 and 1889. About deep, it was filled daily by tidal actions. The later 'City Baths' were established on the site. New baths were built between 1941 and 1950. These were named the 'Tobruk Memorial Baths' in memory of those at the 1941 Siege of Tobruk. In 1891, military fortifications were established at Kissing Point, a rocky headland at the north-west end of the Strand. Jezzine Barracks was closed in 2007, to become the home of the Army Museum of North Queensland. By 1929, a branch of the Queensland Country Women's Association built the Pioneer Women's Memorial Building with five seaside huts on Mitchell Street, Kissing Point. This included a 'sharkproof' enclosure for swimming, which required repair from time to time. A number of persons were killed by sharks over the years on The Strand. The first recorded fatality was on 9 November 1916 at Kissing Point, and another followed the next morning nearby. September 1918 saw another fatal attack near the Sea View Hotel, in of water. A fourth fatality was about from Kissing Point in January 1933. Another reported fatal mauling was located beside the Kissing Point Baths swimming enclosure on 22 October 1951. In July 1935 it was believed a forty-three-year-old woman with a child walked off the Melton Hill cliff, over high, opposite the City Baths. (Even then, the cliff had Bougainvillea creepers.) By 1951, the Kissing Point swimming enclosure was also known as the RAAF Pool when netting was erected during World War II when the Royal Australian Air Force station was a naval area. Jellyfish stings have also been present along the beach over time. In January 1956, a twenty-seven-year-old stockman pleaded guilty for the murder of a twelve-year-old female school student. She had been attacked and strangled at Kissing Point in December 1955. The offender died in prison in April 2010, and considered to have spent more time in custody than anyone else