Audiotour Maryborough Queen's Park

Welcome to our tour of Queens Park.  This tour will guide you on a circular route through the park and will give you insight into the rich history of this amazing site.  Join us as we learn about all the things that make Queens Park special.

Queen’s Park was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.  This beautiful park not only has recreational value with its pond, spacious lawns and the wide variety of plants and trees, it is also of cultural significance containing a bandstand, a fountain, naval guns and several memorials.

The first people to occupy what is now Queens Park were the Butchulla, who have been in the Fraser Coast region for tens of thousands of years.  They used the site for camping and feasting, but that all changed when European colonisers came to the area in the 1840s.

After the arrival of Europeans the site housed various industries, such as a boiling down works and sawpits, until it was gazetted as a botanic garden in 1873.  Trustees led by chairman RB Sheridan plotted out the infrastructure of the park, including paths, seats, and flower beds, in line with the standards of the Victorian Era.  Some of the major pathways, the lily pond, and some significant early plantings have survived since the 1860s and still grace the park today.

Some images used within this tour are provided courtesy of Maryborough Wide Bay and Burnett Historical Society, Kristina Dowdell and Bradford Willetts.