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Maryborough Memories

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Maryborough Memories

Sharing the memories of Maryborough, situated in the Goldfields region of central Victoria

11/10/2026

A little piece of Maryborough history, preserved one signature at a time! 📖

How good is this old leadership ledger from Highview College, shared this evening via the school's page? 🏫

For 53 years, the school has kept a tradition alive, with each new student leader signing their name alongside generations before them. ✍🏻

This page takes us right back to 1992, complete with the names and handwritten signatures of the school captains, vice captains and house captains. 👨🏻‍🎓

Back then, these were just kids signing a book. More than three decades later, it's a lovely little time capsule. 🗝️

Recognise any names? Perhaps yours is in there somewhere! 👀

02/10/2026

Flashback Friday to two and a half years ago, when the Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation undertook a “breaking ground” ceremony at Maryborough’s Indigenous Interpretive Garden.

The garden was then nearing completion beside the Central Goldfields Art Gallery, on the corner of Neill and Campbell Streets, with the project funded by Central Goldfields ratepayers and Victorian taxpayers.

20/09/2026

Two years ago, Maryborough celebrated 170 years since the town received its name! 🙌🏻

Before Maryborough became Maryborough, the settlement was known as Simson. Then gold was discovered at White Hill in 1854 and, bloody hell, things moved quickly! ⛏️

Prospectors flooded in, government officials arrived, and the population reportedly reached as high as 50,000 during the rush. ✨

Gold Commissioner James Daly was given the job of choosing a new name and settled on Maryborough, reportedly inspired by his native Ireland. 🍀

The town was surveyed that same year, with a police camp, church, hospital, post office and even the Addy all appearing around that early period. 🏪

Maryborough has since weathered gold booms and busts, wars, depression, industrial change, and the SBS documentary. But it’s still here, still standing and still proudly Maryborough! ☺️

That makes the name 172 years old in 2026. Not bad for a joint that started with sheep, struck gold and just kept going! 👏🏻

How long has your family called Maryborough home? 💬

31/08/2026

Long before souvenir mugs and fridge magnets took over the world, there was the trusty linen tea towel! ☕

This vintage “Greetings Maryborough” souvenir features Australia’s golden wattle and was proudly designed in Australia. 🇦🇺

It's the kind of tea towel often tucked safely in a cupboard and declared “far too good for drying dishes!” 🍽️

A beautiful little piece of Maryborough nostalgia from a time when even the tea towels had class. 🌻

26/07/2026

Weekend windback to two years ago when a Traditional Aboriginal Smoking Ceremony was performed at the Maryborough Railway Station following the completion of the Ararat to Maryborough Line upgrade. 🚉🔥

18/07/2026

One of Maryborough's most significant civic treasures has returned home, with the historic Borough and City of Maryborough Mayoral Chains now on public display for the first time in decades.

The ceremonial chains, which had spent about 30 years in secure storage following Victoria's 1994 council amalgamations, are now part of an exhibition at the Central Goldfields Art Gallery.

Commissioned in 1954 after a council resolution passed in December 1953, the chains were produced by Melbourne firm Blashki & Sons, a company established in 1858 that became well known for crafting ceremonial regalia.

Far more than a decorative symbol of office, the chains also serve as a permanent record of Maryborough's civic leadership.

The elaborate design features a central medallion surrounded by 36 engraved links, each recognising a former mayor and their period of service.

For many years, the chains were worn by the Mayor at important civic occasions, including official visits from dignitaries such as the Governor and the Premier.

After local government boundaries were controversially reshaped in the mid-1990s, however, they were retired from ceremonial use and placed into secure storage, first in a Commonwealth Bank vault in Ballarat before later being housed at Sovereign Hill.

Their return to Maryborough has been welcomed by those with a long connection to the town.

Among them is Central Goldfields Art Gallery volunteer and former Maryborough Council employee Kay Branton, who began working at the Town Hall in 1963.

As a junior secretary, she remembers regularly carrying the secure document case that now also forms part of the exhibition.

Although the mayoral chains were not worn during routine council meetings, she recalls they were reserved for significant civic ceremonies.

Looking over the engraved names, Kay said many belonged to mayors she remembered personally, while also observing there was only one woman represented among them.

Central Goldfields Shire Mayor Ben Green said it was fitting that such an important part of the municipality's history had finally returned to the community.

He said the gold chains themselves reflected the extraordinary prosperity that transformed Maryborough during the gold rush, funding many of the grand buildings and public infrastructure that still define the town today.

Rather than remaining hidden away in secure storage, Ben said displaying the chains allows residents and visitors alike to better appreciate Maryborough's place at the heart of one of Australia's greatest gold rushes.

31/05/2026

Who else is old enough to have fond memories of the Maryborough Golden Wattle Festival? 🌻🍃

17/05/2026

Who remembers Maryborough’s Railway Hotel, before it was bulldozed to make way for McDonald’s? 🍺

For a lot of locals, this wasn’t just an old pub on the corner near the underpass.

It was counter meals, cold b**rs, kids mucking around on the old metal swing, the b**r garden, the fishpond, the pool table, the jukebox, country music nights, Christmas Day sing-alongs, footy club nights, after-work drinks, and blurry stories people still laugh about decades later.

Ed and Marie Malone, Carl Malone, and the wider family are still remembered by many as the soul of the place.

It wasn’t some soulless chain where everything comes out identical and half the staff don’t even know the town they’re working in. It was a proper local pub where people knew your name, your dad, your footy club, and probably what you were drinking before you even got to the bar.

The Railway had real meals, real people and real atmosphere.

Steak nights. Chinese nights. Huge counter meals. Cold b**rs in the b**r garden. Tech school kids sneaking down at lunch. Royal Park footballers rolling in after games. Friday arvo pool comps with the jukebox firing.

Now the same corner pumps out floppy burgers, lukewarm chips, and enough salt to mummify Maryborough's elusive panther.

A whole generation grew up making memories at the Railway Hotel. Kids ran around the gardens while parents had a drink. People worked there, met there, celebrated there, fell in love there, had breakups there, played darts there, saw bands there, and probably had a few headaches there the next morning too.

Old pubs like that had personality. They were imperfect, rough around the edges and sometimes a bit chaotic, but they actually felt alive. Now half the country gets excited because a touchscreen tells them their McNuggets are ready.

Funny thing is, even after all these years, heaps of locals still don’t look at that corner and think “McDonald’s.” They still see the Railway.

The b**r garden. The laughter. The Malone family. The music. The old swing. The fishpond. The coldest b**rs in town. The drive-through bottle shop. The footy stories. The songs.

A proper Maryborough pub replaced by a global junk food chain that looks exactly the same in every town on Earth. 🍔

04/01/2026

Weekend windback to 2009, when Central Goldfields Shire Council was named winner of the “Managing Community Assets” award at the National Awards for Local Government.

The award related to Maryborough Urban Prospects – a project aimed at dealing with several vacated school sites that had been sitting in limbo around town.

The project had been running since 2006, after Council secured four major sites, and by the time the award was handed out, each had a nominated future use.

The Palmerston Street site moved into aged care hands, 2828 was slated for independent living units, and the Nolan Street site became Council administration as part of the Station Domain.

At the time, then-CEO Mark Johnston described the award as recognition for the work put into avoiding long-term vacancy and decay of significant community buildings.

Pictured is then Central Goldfields Shire Mayor, Chris Meddows-Taylor, alongside the Federal Minister for Local Government at the time – and future Prime Minister – Anthony Albanese.

03/01/2026

Remembering those summers at the Maryborough pool feels somewhat bittersweet now. 🏊🏻‍♂️

Kids playing all day, laughter echoing off the concrete, no screens, no rush – just sunshine, water and pure innocence. 🏃🏻‍♂️

We didn’t know how lucky we were, because back then it all felt normal. What really hurts now is that kids today don’t get that same chance. 💦

And with failed state and local government promises piling up, and ongoing concerns about Council finances, progress appears to be stalled. 💰

That uncertainty makes it feel like the pool may not return for a long time yet – if ever. :'(

A whole generation missing out on something that once helped make a childhood. 😭

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