Maryborough, a city of almost 27,000 people, is located on the Mary River in Southeast Queensland. It is 255km north of Queensland’s capital city of Brisbane. Coupled with Hervey Bay, Maryborough forms the Fraser Coast Local Government Area. In fact, Maryborough is dominated by Hervey Bay which is twice the size. Together with Gympie and Bundaberg, these two cities are a part of the Wide Bay Burnett Region.
Our book provides a glimpse of Maryborough’s interesting history and heritage.
At the heart of the book are contemporary photographs and descriptions of 10 general heritage-listed buildings and the six heritage-listed hotels in Maryborough. We also investigate four topics in detail:
• A consideration of key aspects of Maryborough such as the Port of Maryborough, the Mary River, railways, war memorials, Queens Park and a statistical profile (population, employment, education).
• A discussion of how Maryborough was settled with a focus on the first 20 years and its explorers and pioneers. Our first 20 years for Maryborough extend from Andrew Petrie’s ground-breaking voyage up the Mary River in 1842 until Maryborough was proclaimed a municipality in 1861.
• An account of the trials, tribulations and exploits of the indigenous Butchulla people. We examine the difficulties in researching the indigenous people, the population, early European contact, the frontier wars, government control and reserves, the confronting issue of our time, and recent acknowledgements in the plight of Australia’s indigenous people.
• A brief study of the timber, sugar and engineering industries so important to Maryborough’s survival. These industries have been mainstays of Maryborough since the 1860s and 1870s.