[2] Maryborough is located on the Mary River in Queensland, Australia, approximately 255 kilometres (160 mi) north of the state capital, Brisbane.

[citation needed] British navigators Matthew Flinders in 1802 and William Edwardson in 1822 were the first Europeans to take detailed surveys of the Hervey Bay coastline.

They found Duramboi living with the Ginginbara clan of the Gubbi along its banks at a camp close to where the town of Maryborough is now situated.

The first of these was Mynarton Joliffe who, under the employment of the prosperous squatter John Eales, overlanded 16,000 sheep and set up the Tiaro property in 1843.

[16] During this time, Commissioner of Crown Lands, Stephen Simpson visited the area and determined that the junction of two waterways (later known as the Mary river and Tinana Creek) would be a suitable place for a township.

Edmund Blucher Uhr established a boiling down facility in 1850 and John George Walker started a boatyard not long after.

[citation needed] In November 1850, after receiving intelligence of the murder of a shepherd and the loss of a flock of sheep, the Native Police started to enter the area.

Lieutenant Richard Marshall with the assistance of Mary River settlers such as John Murray and Henry Cox Corfield, conducted expeditions to find the stolen sheep.

[25] In 1851, the Commandant of the Native Police, Frederick Walker, was called in to apprehend a number of Aboriginal men who had committed criminal acts on the mainland, and were hiding out on K'gari.

[30] The early Maryborough economy was centred around livestock farming, logging of the bunya pine forests, and the boiling down of animal carcasses to make tallow.

In the late 1850s the soil along the Mary River was deemed ideal for the cultivation of sugarcane and in 1859 Edgar Thomas Aldridge was able to grow and produce a world-class experimental crop.

[31] Seeing the profitable potential, many influential local landholders such as Henry Palmer and John Eaton formed the Maryborough Sugar Company in 1865.

[32] Farmers switched to growing cane and the first Mary River sugar refinery, known as the Central Mill, was built in 1867 by Robert Greathead and Frederick Gladwell.

The planters along the Mary River also used this type of labour and the first shipment of 84 South Sea Islander workers arrived in Maryborough in November 1867.

They came aboard the schooner Mary Smith, owned by Robert Greathead, with 22 of the labourers being engaged by the Maryborough Sugar Company.

[34][35] Concerns were raised about whether the Islanders on the Mary Smith understood the work contracts and if the pledge to return them would be honoured due to the lack of an interpreter.

[44][45][46] Prior to the opening of the church, Wesleyan services were initially held in a store in Adelaide Street and then in the Maryborough School of Arts.

[39] St Joseph's closed in March 1879, as the consequence of a long-running dispute between MacKillop and the Roman Catholic Bishop of Brisbane, James Quinn, over whether the Sisters or the diocese should control the schools.

[citation needed] Coal had been discovered at Burrum, 25 kilometres (16 mi) north of Maryborough, and a line was constructed to serve the mine, opening in 1883.

[63] The church was erected by Edgar Thomas Aldridge, of Baddow House in memory of his wife Maria who died on 17 March 1886.

[67] At the time Maryborough was Queensland's largest port—a reception centre for wool, meat, timber, sugar and other rural products.

There were no more cases but the ensuing fear, panic, and hysteria totally consumed the town, and a huge crowd gathered to witness the family's house being burnt to the ground by health officials.

A memorial fountain was built in the grounds of the City Hall and dedicated to the nurses, Cecelia Bauer and Rose Wiles.

[70] The Andronicus Brothers - Jim and George, formerly from the Greek island of Kythera, established the Café Mimosa in Kent Street, Maryborough in the 1920s.

[1] Maryborough has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: Tourism plays a significant part in the economy of the city today.

Downer Rail, together with Bombardier Transportation, built and tested Transperth's relatively modern B-Series trains in Maryborough, which were launched in Perth in late 2004.

[120] It replaced Maryborough station in the central business district, although the eight kilometre branch remains in use to service the 66 Rail workshops.

Federation Park in Banana Street, Granville is Football Maryborough's home soccer complex comprising 11 active fields.

The Maryborough Bears Australian rules football club is based out of Federation Park and have competed in the AFL Wide Bay competition since 1998.

[152] Maryborough's environment supports rare and endangered terrestrial and aquatic fauna including the Mary River Turtle.