It is not an unreasonable drive from Labrador to Maryborough. Not if you start early enough and have patience with the traffic as you by-pass Brisbane. Any other route would involve at least double the time and a lot of backroads. I would have also missed all the interesting murals along the route including people, Australian animals, botany and ocean creatures galore. Of course, sitting in the backseat on the left side, I was free to observe as much as I wanted.
We arrived on the outskirts of Maryborough shortly before noon. The wiki article is the usual dry facts. This advert type article promoting tourism. A google search will net you more. The local population is about 25k with all the positives and negatives that can bring. If you have never lived in a small town, you won’t have a clue as to what I mean. For those who have – well, you understand completely.
Jill & Graeme have long standing friends here. But I am the one who really wanted to head up here at this point. There was a wonderful woman I met 11 Nov 2013 in Esperance, Western Australia at the Remembrance Day Memorial Service. She was in town for a while due to family matters and offered to show me the local museum. We have stayed in intermittent email contact since.
Glenda picked me up at where we are staying and we headed into town. Maryborough is located near Wide Bay on the banks of the Mary River. A particularly slow flowing tidal river, the town has been repeatedly subject to flooding. The most recent in this past fall following major flooding the previous year unto the banks of City Hall. Google Maryborough 2022 flood for incredible pictures (more so I am sure if you didn’t live there).
The town’s famous people include Helen Lyndon Goff (you probably know here as P.L. Travers). So a visit to the Story Bank was obviously in order. It is her original home as well as one of four major banks at that time.
The museum is primarily set up for children, both to explore and to learn the art of story telling. As I understand it, the downstairs was the bank, the upstairs the living quarters of the banker and his family. But there was a desk
which is placed in front of a cabinet of Curiosities. I want the desk. It has cubbies, wings, draws, a writing surface. Do I need a desk? Not really, but this one is worthy of avarice. Upstairs, among other things was a measure stick obviously designed for children, except for where I measure in
We walked the Anzac Memorial which plainly and brutally tells the story of the Gallipoli invasion attempt and then follows with the land war in Europe where ANZAC troops served.
Then, although this was more the start of the afternoon than the finish – I will leave you with the Cistern Chapel (rest rooms behind city hall) which are guarded by volunteers and not actually in use.
The Mens – (and I skipped the tired king on his throne)
the Parent Room (where I found the bird song too shrill & too loud)
and the Women’s
We also made a quick stop at the Peace Poles – which were dedicated just this September, and the Brolga Theater. Stopping by friends of hers after the theater stop, I was treated to meeting Lola (a tired but happy black&white Shepard who had apparently spent a goodly part of the afternoon at a local airfield. And disappointedly, she didn’t manage to catch a plane. She lives at what it locally referred to as Rapunzel’s Tower – a 130+ year old house with an upper balcony, extensive gardens, and amazing rooms.
Not surprisingly – I was wiped by the end of the day.
