One resident Melissa Kruse described a brilliant flash in the sky.
"It was a matter of seconds from first sight to it falling out of sight.Ms Kruse added that it looked similar to the Chelyabinsk meteor which flew over Russia in 2013.
"It was pretty spectacular. There was only one."
The Townsville phenomenon was witnessed by numerous other people who described seeing a "massive light over The Strand".
The Canberra Times stated that cameras at Mt Stromlo Observatory did capture a somewhat blurry picture of the fragment emitting a bright blue-green light.
It left a blue-green light trail behind it and travelled about 80,000 to 120,000 kilometres per hour, creating a sonic boom that was heard and felt by people below.
Mysterious booms are increasing dramatically all over the planet, which may be indicative of other space rock fragments exploding in the atmosphere. Meteorites have also been recorded recently over Canada, South Africa and the US.
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