Maryborough, Victoria

Maryborough ()Macquarie Dictionary, Fourth Edition (2005). Melbourne, The Macquarie Library Pty Ltd. ISBN 1-876429-14-3 is a city in Victoria, Australia, located on the Pyrenees Highway, north of Ballarat, north-west of Melbourne, in the Shire of Central Goldfields. At the 2006 census, Maryborough had a population of 7,692.

History

The area was originally inhabited by the Dja Dja Wurrung people. The first Europeans to settle were the Simson brothers, who established a sheep station, known as Charlotte Plains, in 1840. Gold was discovered at White Hill, 4 kilometres north of Maryborough, in 1854, leading to prospectors rushing to the area. At its peak, Maryborough had a population of up to 50,000.

The town site was surveyed in 1854, with a police camp, Methodist church, and hospital amongst the first infrastructure. The Post Office opened on 19 October 1854.

The settlement was originally known as Simsons, but later changed to Maryborough by the gold commissioner James Daly, after his Irish birthplace. One of Victoria's earliest newspapers, The Maryborough Advertiser, was established in 1854. Land sales commenced in 1856, and Maryborough became the administrative and commercial centre of the area. The town became a borough in 1857.

The last gold mine in Maryborough closed in 1918. In 1924 the Maryborough Knitting Mills opened, which established the town as a centre for the wool industry. Maryborough became a...
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