QHA_April_Mag

COMPASS
Maryborough Criterion Hotel
Maryborough Post Office
EACH YEAR MARYBOROUGH HOSTS THE FRASER COAST SHOW,
A DESCENDANT OF THE WIDE BAY AND BURNETT PASTORAL
AND AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY’S FIRST SHOW IN 1876.
Maryborough railway station
is a reflection of the gold-rush era in which it was built.
Economic prosperity saw the construction of the robust
Australian Joint Stock Bank in 1882. Today it shares its
limelight with a statue of Mary Poppins on the footpath
outside. The statue was erected in 2005 to honour
Mary Poppins’ author Helen Lyndon Goff whose father
was manager of the Union Bank that occupied the
building from 1906. The town’s continued economic
fortunes are also reflected in the bold American colonial
style of the City Hall built in 1908.
Maryborough gained city status in 1905 after which its
population continued to grow. Today it enjoys a lively
rural feel, rare for a Queensland town so close to the
coast. Each year Maryborough hosts the Fraser Coast
Show, a descendant of the Wide Bay and Burnett
Pastoral and Agricultural Society’s first show in 1876.
The Maryborough markets have become something of
a local institution as the city centre streets give way to
over 120 stalls every Thursday.
Maryborough also has a healthy number of local pubs.
Three of which are members of the QHA and enjoy a
dedicated Facebook following.
QHA REVIEW | 47