Professional Documents
Culture Documents
By Riley Upton
1
What about Maryborough?
2
Prosperity & Population
Figure 3. A map depicting the various locations of gold discovered throughout Victoria. As can be
seen, Maryborough is at the heart of it.
Maryborough, where on the 30th May 1854 population was increasing rapidly. By late
he wrote that “150 miners [were] there”, and September of 1954, Maryborough boasted a
within a week commented that there are population of 25,000, with thousands more
“prospects of increase” in the mining in the surrounding towns of Carisbrook,
population.3 This proved to be a serious Avoca, Dunolly and Alma.6 This huge
3
growth, born out of the gold rush, ties in gold in Clunes, Ballarat and Bendigo before
with the broader narrative of immigration in the end of 1851.9 The Victorian goldfields
Australia, particularly in areas where gold produced gold to the value of £100
had been discovered. Within ten years of the million,10 which by today’s standards is just
first discovery of gold, some 400,000 under $200 million. By 1963 the total value
immigrants were attracted to Victoria.7 of Australia’s gold production had risen to
During this same decade the Victorian an astronomically high £975 million.11
population skyrocketed from 97,000 to There was a sense that Australia was a
540,000,8 accounting for almost half of the “shining El Dorado” and a perception that
Australian population during the mid-19th this gold would provide endless wealth.12
Century. This perception that the wealth gold
produced would never cease to end certainly
Maryborough was not a standalone location
informed the construction of the
for the discovery of gold, but rather placed
Maryborough railway station.
in the centre of the goldfields with reports of
Figure 4. An aerial view of the rear of the station. Note the length of the platform, designed to support large
populations.
4
The Octopus of Central Victoria
With this historical context in mind, it populated. There is not a district in the
becomes clearer as to why there was a need colony which has so many advantages as the
for a railway station in Maryborough. As one surrounding Creswick and Clunes.
discussed, the centralised locality of There is to be found the finest agricultural
Maryborough saw that it was to become the land, whilst mineral wealth is being
centre of a large railway empire, according developed on a scale unsurpassed in any
to the Railway Act of 1884, known as the part of the colony”.14
‘Octopus Act’13. The image of an octopus
The aim of this act was to connect all of
with its tentacles covering Victoria is a
Victoria via railway line, enabling a
fitting symbol for the proposed railway
streamlined connection with Melbourne and
lines. The Ballarat Courier commented that
increasing potential for the exportation
of all the interconnected lines proposed,
industry. Maryborough’s prime location
none were as promising as the Ballarat-
between Bendigo, Ballarat, Clunes and
Maryborough line:
Avoca – as well as some smaller townships
Unlike the others, which propose to connect which also produced quantities of gold, was
distant centres of population and pass to become the central hub for the region.
through long stretches of country in which
there is little or no population, this proposes
to carry a line through a country thickly
The introduction of a rail line to many “sleepy country towns into thriving
Maryborough, in conjunction with the communities”.16 Adam-Smith furthers this
station, enabled the community to at last be notion, commenting that the Victorian
connected to Melbourne and the other railways not only linked isolated
surrounding towns. During the second half communities, but also brought about an
of the 19th Century, Australia was still “a overarching sense of community and unity
collection of far flung colonies”15, the same to these rural areas, which prior to the
can be said for the largely isolated regional railways, was lacking.17 The railway
municipalities. The Octopus Act enabled not industry, of course, was a booming industry
only the streamlined transportation of goods in its own right, and with the decline in gold
and people around the state, it also turned production post-gold rush era, the threat of
5
Victoria losing much of its population was people employed through the Victorian
serious and real. The continued construction railway system, a testament to the power of
of railway lines and stations, their connectivity and community across the
maintenance and upkeep, as well as the need state.18 However, there were many who
for train drivers, station masters and other opposed this connectivity, and the
affiliated occupational positions largely Maryborough station proved to be a point of
combatted this threat. Even a century later in controversy.
1975-76 there was an average of 25,000
6
Not One Station, but Two?
The station referred to by the Bendigo This style, which is now better known as
Advertiser is not the initial station that was Federation style, saw great focus on exposed
built in Maryborough for a paltry £4,000, brickwork, encouraging a greater
but rather the later station built in 1890. The appreciation for its quality and variety.25 The
initial station, built in 1874, was deemed Anglo-Dutch style also encouraged the use
inappropriate and thus plans for a new of brickwork, but produced more ornamental
station were designed, with the new building and decorative buildings. Being one of a
kind, the station has been further alienated
boasting twenty-five separate rooms, taking
from the more conventional architectural
two years to construct and all at the princely
style throughout the region. Whilst it can be
cost of nearly £22,000.23
interpreted as appearing to be out of place,
Built in the Anglo-Dutch style, the station is the originality and individuality of the
one of a kind in Victoria, as many of the building further adds to the narrative of the
other Victorian stations have been built in Maryborough station being the centre of the
the Queen Anne style. Queen Anne regional rail industry.
architecture is indicative of the inclination of
Australian architects to mirror overseas
trends, particularly trends from Britain.24
7
8,000.27 It would logically make sense for building, it provides insight into societal
the large station in Victoria to be built in an views of the station at the turn of the
area with a higher population, yet as has century. What one can derive from this is a
been discussed, the booming days of the perception that, much like Maryborough
gold rush informed the stations construction. Queensland, the station would make more
Beyond this, there has been much coverage sense to be in the capital, rather than a small
regarding the Maryborough station being the rural community. However, as I have
grandest in the state. The Maryborough and reiterated throughout this essay and as my
Dunolly Advertiser, in reporting on research contends, this view ignores the rich
parliamentary discussions surrounding the history of the area during the gold rush era,
Maryborough station in 1914, quotes that a the immense population growth and the
Mr Warde argued that the “station should be isolation of rural communities. History
removed to Spencer-street”.28 Whilst this shows that the station was in fact, built in
should be interpreted as more of a comment the right place. The station still stands as a
on the grandeur of the Maryborough station remarkable building to this day, attracting
compared to the Melbourne buildings, rather tourism from all around the globe.
than the actual proposition to move the
9
Bibliography
Primary Sources
Cleary, J.N., Weekly Times, 23 Nov. 1895, 12, in Trove [online database], accessed 1 Oct. 2018.
Flinders-Street Station’, Bendigo Advertiser, 25 Jan. 1905, 4, in Trove [online database],
accessed 16 Sept. 2018.
‘Proposed Railway from Castlemaine to Maryborough’, Age, 30 Sept. 1859, 6, in Trove [online
database], accessed 16 Sept. 2018.
‘The Railway Station’, Maryborough and Dunolly Advertiser, 2 Feb. 1914, 4, in Trove [online
database], accessed 16 Sept. 2018.
Secondary Sources
Colwell, Max, Australian Transport an illustrated history, (Dee Why, NSW: Paul Hamlyn Pty.
Ltd., 1972).
Adam-Smith, Patsy, Romance of Victorian Railways, (Adelaide: Rigby Publishers Limited,
1980).
Osborn, Betty & DuBourg, Trenear, Maryborough: A Social History 1854-1904,
(Maryborough, Victoria: Maryborough City Council, 2011).
Philips, Valmai et al., New Ways in an Ancient Land: Australia from penal colony to
prosperous nation 1778 to 1900, (Kensington, NSW: Bay Books, 1986).
Blackmore, W. H. et al., Landmarks: A history of Australia to the present day, (Melbourne:
Macmillan, 1969).
Hunt, O. W., Australia in the Making, (Sydney: Whitcombe & Tombs, 1966).
‘Rail link ushered in new era of transport’, The Maryborough District Advertiser,
‘Maryborough 150 – Survival of a Resilient City’, 9 July 2004, 22-24.
Australian Bureau of Statistics, ‘2016 Census QuickStats Maryborough (Qld)’, Australian
Bureau of Statistics [website], (2016)
http://quickstats.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2016/quickstat
/SSC31794, accessed 19 Sept. 2018.
Australian Bureau of Statistics, ‘2016 Census QuickStats Maryborough (Vic)’, Australian
Bureau of Statistics [website], (2016)
10
http://quickstats.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2016/quickstat
/SSC31794, accessed 19 Sept. 2018.
Sobey, Emily, ‘Ballarat-Maryborough line reopens’, Ballarat Courier, 13 June 2010,
https://www.thecourier.com.au/story/545707/ballarat-maryborough-rail-line-reopens/,
accessed 12 Sept. 2018.
Images
(Figure 1) Maryborough Station [image], (1890)
https://museumsvictoria.com.au/railways/image.aspx?PID=2752, accessed 10 Sept. 2018.
(Figure 2) Cleary, J.N., Weekly Times, 23 Nov. 1895, 12, in Trove [online database], accessed 1
Oct. 2018. – Image is a clipping taken from the referenced newspaper article.
(Figure 3) Map of Victoria showing location of goldfields [image], (2001) http://press-
files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p198511/html/illustrations.html, accessed 11 Sept.
2018.
(Figure 4) Birdseye View of Maryborough Railway Station [image], (early 1900s)
https://cv.vic.gov.au/stories/a-diverse-state/goldfields-stories-a-station-with-a-town-
attached/birdseye-view-of-maryborough-railway-station/, accessed 10 Sept. 2018
(Figure 5) Architectural Plans, Maryborough Station, 1859 [image], (1859)
https://museumsvictoria.com.au/railways/image.aspx?PID=2888, accessed 10 Sept. 2018.
(Figure 6) Dave Murchie, Maryborough Railway Station, QLD [image], (2014)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/davemurchie/16146332075/, accessed 18 Sept. 2018.
(Figure 7) Susan Marsden, Maryborough Railway Station [image], (2018)
https://www.historycouncilvic.org.au/photo-story_14_july_2018, accessed 19 Sept. 2018.
11
Endnotes
1
J. N. Cleary, Weekly Times, 23 Nov. 1895, 12, in Trove [online database], accessed 1 Oct. 2018.
2
Betty Osborn & Trenear DuBourg, Maryborough: A Social History 1854-1904, (Maryborough, Victoria: Maryborough City Council,
2011), 23.
3
Ibid.
4
Ibid.
5
‘Rail link ushered in new era of transport’, The Maryborough District Advertiser, ‘Maryborough 150 – Survival of a Resilient City’,
9 July 2004, 22.
6
Osborn, 30.
7
O. W. Hunt, Australia in the Making, (Sydney: Whitcombe & Tombs, 1966), 156.
8
Hunt, 160.
9
Hunt, 156.
10
Ibid.
11
Hunt, 160.
12
Ibid.
13
Maryborough 150 – Survival of a Resilient City, 23.
14
Ballarat Courier, 8 August 1868. PULL REFERENCE FROM OSBORN.
15
Max Colwell, Australian Transport an illustrated history, (Dee Why, NSW: Paul Hamlyn Pty. Ltd., 1972), 95.
16
Colwell, 96.
17
Adam-Smith, 60.
18
Adam-Smith, 9.
19
Museums Victoria Railways.
13