Original Maryborough Town Site

Wander through the riverfront land at the end of Aldridge Street and you will be traversing the site of the first settlement of Maryborough, established in 1848 and occupied until 1855. The site includes gravesites, sawpits, stone building foundations, bridge remnants and archaeological material. Ipswich publican George Furber set up a wool store, shanty and wharf on the southern bank of the Mary River in 1847. Edgar Thomas Aldridge arrived in June 1848. Along with brothers Richard and Henry Palmer, they established a settlement on the northern bank opposite Furber’s business, including Aldridge’s ’Bush Inn’. Surveyor Hugh Labatt was sent to survey the township in 1850. He concluded that another site further downstream where a boiling down works had been established was a preferable site. The river was deeper here and would accommodate large vessels. He surveyed this site as well. The original town site was home to 299 residents in 1851. The local aboriginal residents, the Butchilla people, defended their territory but the settlement continued to grow around Aldridge’s hotel. Furber was injured in a conflict and later died. By 1866, the town had been abandoned. Interpretive signage has been placed throughout the site to engage visitors.