Townsville City Council wants you to help shape the future of one of the city's most popular parks – and it's as easy as completing an online survey.
Council is developing a long-term masterplan for Oonoonba Park to guide future upgrades and investment for the southern suburbs recreational area.
The masterplan for the Shannon Street facility will be guided by community feedback provided through Council's Have Your Say platform, as well as through an on-site engagement session for residents to attend.
Divisional councillor Brady Ellis said the park was home to Saints Cricket Club as well as a half basketball court, a shaded playground and fitness equipment.
"Oonoonba Park is a hugely popular spot for families from right around the southern suburbs, as well as the mighty Saints Cricket Club. As a council we want to make sure we understand exactly what our residents want to see in the long-term future of this park, which is why we're running consultation on our masterplan," Cr Ellis said.
"Developed in partnership with Saints, the Oonoonba Park Masterplan takes a look at how the park can evolve during the coming years as a shared community and sporting precinct. The draft so far addresses the limited field capacity, the need for dedicated training facilities and all-gender amenities.
"Some of the advancements we're considering for the park in the future include a shared clubhouse, shaded spectator areas and upgraded recreational facilities for families to use."
Mayor Nick Dametto said resident feedback was essential to ensuring long-term park plans would meet community needs.
"This feedback is really important as we want to align what the community wants with what Council delivers during the coming years," Cr Dametto said.
"There are two main ways to give Council your feedback on the proposed masterplan: you can jump onto the Have Your Say Townsville website and fill out the short survey, or you can head along to our community session at Oonoonba Park on Thursday May 21."
Saints Cricket Club president Chris Llewellyn said the club was keen to see the expansion of the park's capabilities in the future.
"We approached Townsville City Council with an expression of interest in relocating to Oonoonba Park in early 2025 when it became clear that our satellite home ground operating model would get harder and harder to sustain as our number continued to grow across all demographics," Mr Llewellyn said.
"We were met with incredible passion and support, working together to develop the Master Plan to ensure this beautiful park will have more visitors and create a welcoming and family-friendly recreational space. We hope the community can see the value we have been bringing to Townsville through our cricket over the last few years, and we hope there is plenty of support for us to build our home in Oonoonba Park.
"The relocation of Saints Cricket Club to Oonoonba Park is a hugely important step in our rapid growth, not only to finally consolidate our senior, junior, and women's cricket members in one location, but to strengthen our community presence within our traditional geographical footprint in Townsville.
"We have a strong relationship with Oonoonba State School, where we have been running our Junior Blast Cricket for five to 10 year olds for the last three years, and building a pathway to competitive cricket in Oonoonba is our goal for the community. The development of cricket ovals and facilities at Oonoonba Park will give the entire region more options to play Australia's national sport, and with the intention of having two fully lit fields, will extend our hours of play so we can play longer."
Community consultation on the Oonoonba Park Masterplan is open now until 12 June 2026. The on-site drop-in session will run from 4:30pm to 5:30pm on Thursday 21 May 2026 at Oonoonba Park.
