Category: News

The Fraser Coast is just a three and a half hour drive north of Queensland’s capital, Brisbane. As one of the state’s most popular holiday destinations, the Fraser Coast is easily accessible, making it tourist and family friendly.

The protected waters of Hervey Bay offer a natural playground for thousands of majestic humpback whales and the Great Sandy Strait and its coastal villages are complimented by a coastline of pristine, white sandy beaches. The beauty of the Fraser Coast is not confined only to the coast. Heritage homes in Maryborough, national parks, native woodlands and the beautiful Mary River, combine to bring the best of the Fraser Coast Hinterland to visitors.

As part of the UNESCO recognised Great Sandy Biosphere, the region’s unique and diverse natural attractions are officially recognised in the same class as the Galapagos Islands and the Central Amazon.

The Croydon Foundry Museum is a valuable piece of Maryborough’s history that gives an insight into one of the city’s major industries during the last century.

The foundry was established by English immigrant William Stevenson in 1908 and operated in Maryborough until 1968. It produced the popular Croydon fuel stoves and boiler stands along with agricultural, mining and timber milling machinery and equipment for Queensland’s sugar mills.

The museum is located in the original Croydon Foundry office which was moved to its present site in 1944.

Croydon Foundry Museum
30 Ferry Street, Maryborough.

Open: Tuesday – Friday: 10am to 2pm
Saturday: 9am to 1pm
Closed public holidays. Entry is free of charge.…

This museum displays items and documents from the Maryborough Hospital, which opened in 1864 and was Queensland’s first hospital outside of Brisbane. It contains some admission and birth registers and 19th century nursing books.

The musuem is the place to visit if you want to learn accurate details of Australia’s first recorded outbreak of Pneumonic Plague or the Black Plague, which occurred in Maryborough in 1905.

The museum contains mostly items pertaining to the hospital and the medical profession. These include original plans of the hospital built in 1887, minutes of board meetings, early records of births and deaths, surgical instruments and apparatus, dental and pathology articles, a skeleton used for hospital teaching purposes, a typical home medicine kit, reference books donated by doctors, china and silverware from the private section of hospital.

Wide Bay Hospitals Museum
Cnr. 36 Yaralla and Walker Streets
Maryborough

Open: Every Thursday 9.00am to midday.
Entry: At least a gold coin donation.…

Located 3.5 klms south from Mungar and 14 kilometres north from Tiaro, is a most interesting private museum.

Earliest examples of cow bells date back to the Iron Age. The bell and clapper are commonly crafted from iron, bronze, brass, copper or wood. The collar used to hold the bell is traditionally made with leather.

Keith and Judy Bell invite you to see one of the largest private collections on display of cow bells and spurs.

• Over 600 Cow Bells
• Over 150 Spurs
• Horse & Bullock Gear
• Whip Handles
• Whips for sale

Viewing by appointment only.
Phone: 0447 296 374
Admittance $5.…

Maryborough’s impressive rail heritage is on show at Whistle Stop Museum located on the site of the heritage-listed railway station (c.1882). The museum contains a small, but remarkable, collection of railway memorabilia.

The Whistle Stop Museum is open from 9am to 1pm every Thursday Market Day and the last Sunday of the month at the old Maryborough City Railway Station in Lennox Street, Maryborough.

The museum’s dedicated team of volunteers also crews the Mary Ann, a working replica of Queensland’s first steam engine built in Maryborough in 1873. The Mary Ann runs through Queens Park every Thursday and last Sunday of the month from 9am to 1pm.

Maryborough City Railway Station
Lennox Street, Maryborough.
Open Thursday and last Sunday of the month.…

The Burrum District Museum at Howard reflects the area’s past history as a major coal mining centre dating back to 1863, when the first seam of coal was discovered on the banks of the Burrum River.

The museum features displays of local history from Howard to Torbanlea, early farming, war memorabillia and cottage crafts.

The primary aim of the museum is to collect, preserve, exhibit and interpret objects of natural and cultural significance to the Burrum District. A particular emphasis is placed on the following themes:

1. Historical development of the townships and settlements of the Burrum District;

2. Mining history specifically linked to the Burrum Coal Fields.

The museum provides a venue for collection development combined with storage of documentary and photographic collections, and be the focus of research, exhibition and collection development activities.

Open: Tuesday and Wednesday 9am – 12 noon, and Saturdays 8am – 12noon.…

Maryborough Military & Colonial Museum is regarded as one of the best community museums in Australia, with thousands of items of military and colonial memorabilia.

It is located in a beautifully restored heritage-listed building in the heart of Portside, Maryborough’s original port district. The museum covers three levels, with only the ground floor being wheelchair accessible.

The unusual, the quirky and eclectic are amongst 7,000 items of military and colonial memorabilia, which form displays of exceptional quality at the Maryborough Military & Colonial Museum.

There is an extensive Navy, Army and Air Force display, including a Victoria Cross, a Cross of Valour, and many other significant medals. There are also uniforms, historic vehicles, scale models, murals, wood sculptures and a 2,000 book research library.

Maryborough Military & Colonial Museum
106 Wharf Street, Maryborough.

Open 7 days:
Monday to Friday 9.30am to 3.30pm
Saturday and Sunday 9.30am to 12.30pm
Closed Public holidays

Much more information on the Maryborough Museum’s website…

The Brooweena Historical Village provides a fascinating glimpse of the past with its tranquil rural setting in the centre of the township of Brooweena, 47 kilometres north of Maryborough.

This area was first settled by Europeans in 1849 and the town developed with the arrival of the railway line in 1889. The local sawmill opened in 1924 and closed in November 2013. Sugar production is also a major industry.

In 1892 the first shop was built in the township, followed by the staionmaster’s cottage. In 1915 the Woocoo Shire Office was built and is now housed in the complex.

This charming historical village at Brooweena has an extensive array of memorabilia, equipment, musical instruments and aboriginal rock carvings, housed in a collection of 12 heritage buildings in a tranquil bush setting.

The complex includes blacksmith’s shop, butcher shop, wash house, original 1915 Council Office and an authentic rustic barn with a collection of bullock and horse drawn vehicles.

There is an original settler’s slab dwelling with detached kitchen, dairy shed, former C.W.A. rooms, an old railway goods shed, railway station and old carriage, along with a school and church display. There are also catering and picnic areas.

Open on the second and fourth Sunday of the month from 10am – 3pm (other times by prior arrangement). Consessions are available for group bookings with homemade lunch, morning or afternoon tea.

The Brooweena Historical Village is located on Smith Crescent. Most buildings are wheelchair accessible.…

The museum houses a collection of more than 8,000 historical items – including authentic furnishings, household items and clothing, along with the wagons of early settlers and machinery used in Hervey Bay’s sugar cane industry.

There are 19 original buildings spread across three acres at the complex, including a faithfully furnished slab hut from 1898, a complete railway station, century old church, fully equipped blacksmith shop and dairy shed and the old Dundowran State School.

Blacksmith, woodturning, corn shelling and rope making demonstrations on Sundays from 1pm to 3pm.

Hervey Bay Historical Village and Museum
13 Zephyr Street
Scarness

Opening Hours
Friday and Saturday from 1pm – 4.30pm
Sundays from 10.30am – 4.30pm
All Queensland School and Public Holidays
(Closed Christmas Day and Good Friday)

More information on museum website.…

Take a step back in time and see beautiful antique dolls and toys from the 1800s, including clockwork toys, unusual salt and pepper sets and a rare Holden Pedal Car made in 1944.

Dolls and toys are housed in a special cottage in Grand Shirl’s back yard.

There are hundreds of items on display, including a collection of beautiful french dolls – all waiting to welcome you.

Grand Shirl’s Doll and Toy Museum.
Specialising in antique dolls and toys – buying and selling.

123 Walker Street.
Maryborough.

Open: Sunday 9.30am to 4pm (other times by appointment)…