About Maryborough
Maryborough is known as the ‘Heritage City’ and although it isn’t as grand as Queensland’s two premier ‘Heritage Cities’ – Rockhampton and Charters Towers – it actually predates them both by decades. The city can boast a large number of beautiful historic buildings and the original settlement site – now nothing more than a series of plaques – is a fascinating insight into the evolution of an important centre. Today Maryborough is a city driven by the surrounding sugar, grazing and timber industries and catering for the tourists who pass through on the journey north to Cairns (sourced from the Aussie Towns website – click for more).
Accommodation
We were really happy that Maryborough was chosen to help fill in our “14 day Green Zone” requirements to get home to Victoria. There was so much to see in do and we only had 2 days to do it in. We selected the Wallace Motel and Caravan Park as a central location.
Portside Cafe & Restaurant
We caught up with some travelling buddies, Greg & Lyn, at the Portside Cafe & Restaurant for lunch. What a great place with fantastic food and very friendly staff. Totally enjoyed it. It is located in the Portside area at 103 Wharf Street (maplink) and prices a reasonable. Photos below are from Google.
Mary Poppins Museum
We had no idea that the famous story about Mary Poppins was created in Maryborough by P.L. Travers (born Helen Lyndon Goff). We came across the Story Bank building, which is where Helen Lyndon Goff was actually born. What a great discovery this turned out to be as the Story Bank is actually a museum primarily dedicated to the Mary Poppins story. It is located in Kent Street (maplink) and admission is $15 per adult (Sept 2021 price)
Bonds Store Museum
The Bond Store was an essential part of Her Majesty’s Customs Service at the Port of Maryborough at the peak of immigration and trade in the mid to late 1800s. The building provided safe and secure storage for goods that attracted a tax including important essentials such as cigars, tobacco, rum, wine, spirits and opium.
The Bond Store was one of the 1st brick constructed buildings in Maryborough (about 1863) is now a heritage listed building. We really enjoyed the stroll through the museum with lots of historical facts explaining the Bond Stores history. It is located in Wharf Street (maplink) and admission is $5 for adults (Sept 2021 price).
Maryborough Military Museum
This Maryborough Military and Colonial Museum contains a massive amount of Australian military history and you will be amazed how the volunteers who established and run it have crammed so much into one small space. It’s totally worth a visit and the volunteers were more than willing to explain the origins of the exhibits.
The museum houses a VC awarded to Lieutenant (later Major) Herbert James, 4th Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment for gallantry at Gully Ravine, Cape Helles, Gallipoli on June 28 and July 3, 1915. It is one of only 39 VC’s for the Gallipoli campaign and the only one in Australia outside the Australian War Memorial. It also has two of the most historically significant medal groups to Australian soldiers for the Vietnam War – 1964 to 1973. It is located at 106 Wharf Street (maplink) and entry is $15.00 (Sept 2021 price).
TIP: You can buy a Portside Pass for just $25.00 per adult (Sept 2021 price) which grants you access to the Story Bank, Bond Store and Maryborough Military and Colonial Museum.
A stroll through Queens Park
A walk through Maryborough’s Queens Park, located at 16 Sussex Street (maplink), was also a bit of a surprise. We spent a good couple of hours taking in the Maryborough War Memorial as well as the beautiful gardens, which were established in 1873 and were added to the Queensland Heritage Register in 1992.
