 Many attempts had been made to grow cotton in Australia before this time, but Towns was the first to do so on a large scale.Realising that a port was needed on the Queensland coast north of Bowen, Towns arranged for explorations to be made from his stations, a suitable site was found at Cleveland Bay, and on October 1865 it was gazetted as a port of entry and named Townsville.Towns organised the first importation of South Sea Islander labour to that port in 1866.