Heritage and HistoryEarly History
Although both Captain James Cook and Matthew Flinders had chartered the coastline near Maryborough, city limits discovery honours fall to Andrew Petrie, who ventured up the river to investigate the potential of the harbour behind Fraser Island. The first person to recognise the potential for a settlement on the River was the Commissioner for Crown Lands for Moreton Bay, Stephen Simpson. In March/April 1843 Simpson travelled overland from Ipswich to the Wide Bay district and he reported that the area at the junction of the Wide Bay River and Tinana Creek was "well adapted for a settlement … the creek is sufficiently wide and deep for ordinary coasting vessels and the river perhaps two hundred yards wide". Within a few years, the hinterland was settled extensively and, after the government surveyor declared the region an ideal trade site, Governor of Queensland Fitzroy named the river for his wife, Mary. Quickly, the infant township grew, establishing wharves for trade and a wool store in 1847, upstream from modern day Maryborough. But when supply boats began running aground, people started moving downstream to deeper water where the City of Maryborough proudly sits today. The resulting modern city has now enveloped that Original Maryborough Site, but most of the land remains as treed grassland - one of the few original town sites in Australia left intact. Early Settlers
In December 1847 the schooner "Sisters" arrived to take the first shipment of 65 bales of wool from stations in the area. Within a few months, Furber had enough wool in store for two more shiploads. In June 1848, a party of seven men arrived, led by E.T. Aldridge and the Palmer Brothers. They established their own businesses and wharves on the north side of the river, later known as "the old township". One of the Palmer Brothers blazed a road towards Gayndah. In 1848 John Carne Bidwill, a Government botanist, was appointed Commissioner of Crown Lands and Police Magistrate. He observed "1,100 bales of wool will be shipped from this place during the present season and I think that next year the whole of the wool of the Burnett district and even some from the Darling Downs will be sent to Sydney by this river". Port of Maryborough
In the lead-up to Federation, it was the second largest immigration port after Sydney - with up to 22,000 free settlers landing in Maryborough seeking fame and fortune in the new colony. In the 1800s, ships from Plymouth and Liverpool were docking almost every two weeks bringing immigrants from England, Scotland, Ireland, Germany and Scandinavia. The many grand old heritage listed buildings and hotels in the Portside area were built to service the Port of Maryborough’s thriving merchant businesses Gold Rush
After James Nash discovered that first golden nugget, thousands rushed to the district through the Port of Maryborough, eager to make their fortune or find work. Banks flourished with four million ounces of gold passing through Maryborough’s major banks before being exported from the Port of Maryborough. The gold rush also led to the establishment of the Maryborough to Gympie rail link to carry the gold to the port. Early Industry
Manufacturing - With the gold mining came the need for machinery and the creation of Walkers Limited, a firm that would become a stalwart of Maryborough industry. Walkers began operations in Maryborough in 1869 supplying mining equipment to Gympie and later to other mining operations around Queensland. As the sugar industry grew, Walkers began to manufacture many of the mills that sprung up along the Queensland and New South Wales coast including Proserpine, Mackay and Maryborough. For 100 years, the Walker’s foundry shipyard was one of the nation’s leading builders of naval ships, barges and dredges. In 1897, Walkers built Queensland’s first stream engine. Since then, more than 800 locomotives, 284 passenger vehicles and a number of high speed "Tilt Trains" have been built at Walkers, which is now known as Evans Deakins Industries or EDI. Timber - When first settled, all the timber for the city’s early buildings were cut by pit sawyers and roughly dressed by hand. The Gympie gold rush suddenly increased demand for timber for shoring up excavations. From there the timber industry grew steadily, with increasing exports to Brisbane and Sydney. The first mill was established in Maryborough in 1861. The following year William Pettigrew and William Sim built a sawmill at Dundathu to mill pine. In 1966, Andrew Wilson, Robert Hart and James Bartholomew established a mill and wharf at Granville. It was destroyed by fire in 1881, and a new one built next to Queens Park, although it too was destroyed by fire in 1934. It was again rebuilt and, after changing hands throughout the years, finally closed in 1985. The Brolga Theatre now stands on the site. Maryborough’s most successful timber operation was established by Richard Hyne in 1883 on the bank of the river at the lower end of Kent Street where it is still operating today. Through five generations, the Hyne family developed their timber business into what is now one of the largest and most successful privately owned timber companies in the southern hemisphere. Sugar - Maryborough is one of Queensland’s original cane growing areas and its story is one of great resourcefulness and perseverance. Tropical or sub-tropical agriculture was something of a mystery to the early pioneers with their experience of much cooler climates. For this reason, early attempts to grow sugar in the region faltered until 1865 when the Maryborough Sugar Company was formed with Mauritian immigrant Thomy de Keating as Managing Director. Sugar plantations soon cropped up all over the region. The first mill was set up in 1866 but it was not until 1867, when the Maryborough Sugar Company installed processing machinery from Glasgow, that production became profitable. Sugar continues to play a vital role in Maryborough, employing many locals whose families have worked in the sugar industry for generations. Kanakas
On 9 November 1867, 84 wide-eyed South Sea Islanders walked off the schooner Mary Smith at the Maryborough wharves and stared at the white people staring at them. They were the first of 12,073 kanakas, including 686 women, who were to be brought to Maryborough over the next 33 years. Thirty schooners and two steamers made 142 voyages "recruiting" the Islanders to work in the cane fields - a task plantation owners considered could not be performed effectively or cheaply enough by white men in the sweltering heat. The Islanders were to come voluntarily for a minimum term of three years. There were laws to regulate the "recruitment" of the Kanakas but scandals abounded about their treatment. There were reports of kidnappings, murders, starvings and beatings before campaigners for social justice finally thwarted the political power of the plantation owners. Legislation in 1901 and 1903 eventually outlawed what had become known as the Blackbirding industry. Thousands of Islanders were deported back to their homes but about 1600 elected to remain in Australia. Most of the Maryborough plantation workers who stayed moved to Hervey Bay where many of their descendants live today. Floods
The Great Flood of 1893 - None of the earlier floods had prepared the residents of Maryborough for the events of 1893. After days of cyclonic rains and heavy rain in the catchment the mighty Mary rose with rapid fury and peaked at 40 feet or 12.27 metres about the wharf. Around 150 houses disappeared, businesses, sugar mills, barns, factories, crops and livestock were destroyed and hundreds were left homeless. The Maryborough Bridge (now the Lamington Bridge) was washed away with an almighty crash. Fifteen men on the bridge at the time were hurled into the raging river - all miraculously survived. When the waters subsided the local paper best summed up the scene with this headline - "The floods - an awful catastrophe, the town in ruins, a scene of desolation and misery". The floodwaters only just receded when another flood hit a few days later and dozens more lives were lost. Four months later the city suffered another flood. For some residents it was too much to bear and their spirits were broken. Many farmers who had suffered irreparable losses were forced to abandon the land and township. |
