Maryborough, QLD
29 September 2011
Maryborough's history and commercial success has combined to create a town that is a tourist's dream. It is festooned with beautiful period architecture and stately riverside parks, cultural centres, shops and eateries.
Start with the Wharf Street Precinct: it's a grown-up's Disneyland where the attractions are period buildings steeped in history. Thirteen heritage listed buildings are open to the public, comprising museums, restaurants and galleries. The top of Wharf Street is dominated by the clock tower of the Post Office, which is Queensland's oldest masonry post office and has the longest continuous usage. The first country telephone exchange in Australia crackled to life here.
Across the road is the Maryborough Heritage Centre, originally a bank building built during the gold rush years. It handled approximately a third of all the gold that was processed. Today the building houses a comprehensive family research facility, made significant by the number of new arrivals to Australia that first landed in Maryborough. The centre contains all the ships, logs, colonial and convicts records, births, deaths and marriages for Australia, New Zealand, England and Wales.
Between the river's edge and the Wharf Street Precinct are the manicured gardens of Queens Park and Mary River Parklands, which connect the multi-million-dollar Brolga Theatre to the historic timber Marina.
Queens Park is a beguiling garden of many scenic features. A grand rotunda with delicate, lacy ironworks can be admired from benches in the shade of grand old trees. A miniature steam train meanders through the park, past the fountain and Banyan fig. The fig is an amazing spectacle of vast overarching branches and knotted columns of aerial prop roots. Continue to explore the park and you will discover military cannons, a waterfall and a towering ANZAC cenotaph. (A cenotaph is a monument erected in honour of a person or group of persons whose remains are elsewhere.)
No less lovely is the Mary River Parklands. It contains the Mary Ann Train Station and leads down to the Queens Wharf, where you can sit and enjoy views of the river. Displays of public art reflect Maryborough's history and celebrate the contribution made by South Sea Islanders, the Chinese and Aborigines.
Maryborough shares close ties with another famous Mary – Mary Poppins. PL Travers, the author behind the famous character, was born in Maryborough in 1899. You can see the heritage-listed former bank building where Travers was born, and the statue of Mary Poppins outside the author's birthplace. At the City Hall Green, 10 Mary Poppins characters are etched on to the brick plinths, and you can make a rubbing if you bring pencil and paper.
Try to time your visit to Maryborough with one of the many festivals and events that enliven the streets and parks. On the Saturday night of the last full weekend of the month, scare yourself with a Ghost Tour. Recover the next day with Sunday in the Park and food, bands, train rides and river cruises.
Every third Saturday of the month the Ship to Shore Tour departs, and you can enjoy food, entertainment and history. Each September the town hosts the Holden Maryborough Technology Challenge that features the 24-hour Human Powered Vehicle Championships, technology displays, music and fireworks. The World's Greatest Pub Crawl is hosted by the city's historic pubs over the Queen's Birthday weekend, and every Thursday is market day.
And of course Mary Poppins is not forgotten, with events in her honour throughout July. You can meet Mary Poppins characters at the Thursday Mary Poppins Market Day, watch the movie on Friday night, and celebrate the Mary Poppins Festival in the Park on Sunday. There's something about Maryborough that everyone will love.
TOURIST INFORMATION
Maryborough Fraser Island Visitor Information Centre City Hall, Kent Street, Maryborough QLD 4650
T: 1800 214 789 or (07) 4190 5742
