Maryborough wharves fed a growing city

by FRASER COAST MAYOR

GEORGE SEYMOUR

ONE of the most pleasant and accessible walks on the Fraser Coast is along the banks of the Mary River beside Queen’s Park.

The views along this walk take in the magnificent trees in the park, the historic buildings of Wharf Street and, of course, the glorious river.

I could spend hours here looking out to the birds and boats bobbing in the river as it bends its way to the bay.

I also really enjoy being out on the water.

When I am in my kayak along this stretch of the river I like to explore along the mud and mangroves of the banks.

Here you can find the hints, traces, and reminders of how different this river bank once was.

Whilst quiet and peaceful now, for many decades this is where most of the port’s bustling wharves were.

Here ships from far off ports docked, with passengers and goods for the growing city and also to take away the region’s products including timber, gold, coal, and sugar.

This involved hurried traffic out on to the wharves including trains, horses, vehicles, and men.

This flurry of activity out on the timber wharves took place where now we watch the water rise and fall with the tides amongst the mangroves.

For those with curiosity and an interest in history, here beside the bank and in the mangroves can be seen timber pylons and metal braces.

These are what remains of the many wharves including those known as Walker’s, Queen’s, Howard Smith & Co, Corser & Co, A.S.N. and Wilson Hart & Co.

The most substantial and grandest of the wharves was known by a few names including Government, Corporation and Melbourne Wharf, and was built in 1882.

It managed to survive the record 1893 floods but was demolished after the 1955 floods.

It had a rail siding and two cranes used to load and unload the ships.

The large cylindrical base of one of the cranes can still be seen in the mangroves.

This crane base lingers on in retirement here over six decades after the flood damaged wharf around it was dismantled.

The Port of Maryborough can trace its origins to 1847 when George Furber set up his wharf up the river near the Original Maryborough Site and it developed over the following decades, particularly as a result of the Gympie gold rush.

The completion of the Urangan Pier in 1917 provided the deep water access that would make the riverside wharves less and less viable.

With the closure of the wharves, Maryborough to a great degree lost its attachment to the river.

The river was our connection to the wider world, it was how people arrived and departed and for many it kept them employed.

Maryborough as a city and as a community would be well served by a reconnection, both physically and mentally, to the Mary River. This re-emergence of the river in our lived experience and in our identity could embrace its role in our future but also its significance to our past.