A City of History & Charm Charters Towers, 1 .5 hours drive west of Australia's largest tropical city, Townsville, is a city of history and charm. Now a centre with a population of approximately 10 000 it once housed more than three times that many people who extracted almost seven million ounces of gold between 1871 and 1916. Little of the city's architecture has changed and a visit to  Charters Towers is like a step back in time to the gold rush era. Swinging saloon doors, bullnose verandahs, iron lacework and some of Australia's finest examples of Victorian and Edwardian architecture - from millionaires' mansions to labourers' cottages have made it the main centre of National Trust assets in Queensland. Visitors can see old mining sites and methods including the massive Venus Battery, a crusher once used for extracting gold from the ore and made operational again for the benefits of tourists. Charters Towers has the usual range of accommodation, including modern air-conditioned motels with staff who will help arrange special interest tours of the region. Homes stays are also available on some grazing properties surrounding the city. During the May Day long weekend, when the Charters Towers Country Music Festival is staged each year on a Friday, Saturday and Sunday, many visitors take the opportunity on Monday to attend the traditional bush horse race meeting at nearby Mingela. They can then travel just a little further to Ravenswood, another famous gold town from the same ear as Charters Towers, where fewer than 100 people now live in the surviving village. This is now classified as a Heritage Town, with two hotels and the camping area accommodating a growing number of people who come for tours and to pan for gold in the creek beds. The gaunt skeletons of machinery shafts by the sides of the roads give an insight into Australia's past and testify to the importance of this gold field - now being worked again by modern methods - in its boom days.