VICTORIA'S
GREATEST DRIVING TOURS AND HERITAGE TOWNS
Historic...
MARYBOROUGH
Maryborough’s main drain holds more historic significance than visitor fascination. Located in the town’s Phillips Gardens the long, stone-faced drain is one of Victoria’s earliest examples of public work constructed with convict labour.
More appealing is the grandiose railway station with its Dutch gables, tall clock tower and broad sheltered platform. Mark Twain is reputed to have said “Maryborough is a railway station with a town attached.” Built in 1892, the station’s impressive architecture was to be an enduring expression of grandeur for the budding colony, as well as a main rail centre; these days it remains a popular rendezvous - without a train in sight.
At the end of last century, Maryborough had arrived at the crossroads of survival, and within another twenty years the decline in gold mining edged the town closer to a depressing future. Apart from a flourmill, rail depot and a little primary production, its resources were meagre. However Maryborough, unlike many nearby Gold Rush towns, refused to accept ghost town status: the 1920s saw a local industrial revolution when the butter factory and knitting mills were successfully established.
Today Maryborough is a progressive town, its contemporary trappings blending admirably with a substantial architectural heritage. In the compact central business district the Bull and Mouth hotel and the old State Bank building mingle with a myriad of craft and antique shops, bakeries and cafés. Look above the shop verandahs and there’s often a beautifully ornate façade to greet the eyes.
Just metres from the main thoroughfare, MacLandress Square features an impressive post office (circa 1870), town hall and courthouse. In the main shopping streets you'll find several good bakeries, country pubs and cafes for lunch or casual dinners.
The railway station has become home to an antique emporium, art gallery, wood-work gallery and café. A quarterly antique market is held under the platform’s broad roof, attracting hundreds who browse collectables, books, old wares and objets d’art.
Also worth visiting are Worsley Cottage (one of the town’s oldest), the old Fire Station (now a regional art complex), and Bristol Hill Tower which provides great views over town.
The Maryborough district was opened up in the 1830s by three brothers from Scotland, the Simsons, who settled on grazing runs that embraced an extensive area bounded by the Pyrenees Highway to the east and Dunolly Road to the north. One of the best-preserved links with early pastoral heritage is the homestead “Norwood” built by Alfred Joyce in 1864.
Despite its early pastoral origins, Maryborough was put on the map by the discovery of gold in the 1850s. The town was named by Irishman, Commissioner Daly, who made his camp on the goldfields in 1854. By 1855 there were 53,000 people in the district with Bristol Hill and Blackmans Lead among the favourite digging areas. After the alluvial gold was won, thousands of diggers moved to newer discoveries. Decades of subsequent deep-lead mining became the town’s lifeline.
Evidence of the district’s earliest inhabitants, the Djajowurrong tribe, can be seen south of Maryborough. The rock water wells, along Wells Track south of town, are regarded as one of the best examples of aboriginal rock water wells in Victoria. In other places, the scarred trunks of “canoe trees” can be seen.
Maryborough is 164km north-west of Melbourne. It is a two hour drive via Kyneton and Castlemaine on the Pyrenees Highway. Alternative return through Clunes and Creswick to Western Highway is recommended.
COPYRIGHT PETER ROBINSON 2007
