Helen Goff lived here. Helen Goff was born in this bank building in 1899. The daughter of bank manager Travers Goff, Helen is better known by her nom de plume P. L. Travers the author of Mary Poppins.

Aug 2013 Maryborough, Qld

We turn off the highway at Maryborough, it is a large sprawling town jam packed with wonderful old Queenslander style houses, each one gloriously unique in some way. Whether immaculately renovated or tumble down with peeling paint, you’ve just got to love them. Architecture that is perfectly in tune with the sub-tropical climate.

As Thursday is market day in Maryborough we head in to take a look. It’s a busy bustling market and the street beside the town hall is closed off. There are lots of homemade creations on offer and musicians play under the shade of the trees. As it is a tradition in this town to fire the time cannon at 1:00pm every market day, there is a town crier wandering around among the stalls dragging behind him a small cannon on wheels.

The CBD is flanked on three sides by the wide brown Mary River. This town was Queensland’s second largest port in the nineteenth century and thankfully a lot of the old buildings remain. We tour the Wharf street historic precinct and visit the Customs Museum. The museum is staffed by passionate locals who tell us that immigrants were processed on Fraser Island in the old days before being ferried upriver to Maryborough. Sounds similar to the ideas of today. Queens Park is shaded by a huge, really huge, Banyan tree whose branches are propped up with supports. The gardens are lovely and overlook the river. There is a small cane train running tourists back and forth along the river bank. This is a charming city.

Birthplace of P. L. Travers

Banyan tree, Maryborough

The wide Mary River

Fine Victorian architecture

Maryborough, Qld

Maryborough, Qld

‘Queenslander’ style Maryborough, Qld

Maryborough, Qld

Maryborough market