Town by town snapshot Maryborough

Maryborough is approximately 48 square kilometres and has many parks covering nearly 47.2 per cent of total area.

The population in 2016 was 7922 and by the 2021 Census the population was recorded at 8160, showing a population growth of 3.1 per cent in the area during that time.

Maryborough is a rural city situated towards the west of the rich Victorian goldfields region that includes Ballarat, Castlemaine and Bendigo.

The town is on the Pyrenees Highway and is the intersection of railway lines from Castlemaine to Avoca and from Ballarat to Inglewood.

Maryborough was founded on a gold field and prior to the discovery of gold the Maryborough region was the Charlotte Plains pastoral run taken up by the Simson brothers.

In March 1853, gold was found resulting in a rush, the alluvial finds were rich and a 40 pound nugget found in July 1853 caused no slackening of population.

Known as Daly’s Flat for a short time, Assistant Gold Commissioner James Daly named it Maryborough, after his Irish birthplace.

It is estimated that the Maryborough district had a population of 25,000 people by September 1854.

The town was surveyed in 1855, and allotments sold in October of that year.

The Maryborough borough was proclaimed on 31 March 1857 and by then there was a school, Catholic and Wesleyan churches.

In 1865 Maryborough was an established mining town with the entire district dominated mining operations, the town had a hospital, a court, a mechanics’ institute and numerous hotels.

Agriculture was undeveloped because of scarce summer water, but the Goldfields reservoir was built in 1862.

The railways opened lines in four directions from Maryborough in 1874-75, and the large and well-appointed railway station was completed in 1892.

The four local brickworks could scarcely supply enough building bricks at one stage. Maryborough achieved an unusual diversity of industry for a medium size town and continued to do so for the next 80 years.

A courthouse built in 1893 completed the buildings at the town square.

By the turn of the century gold mining was decreasing and population growth stabilised.

After World War Two Maryborough secured early funds for sewerage and roadworks, modernising its infrastructure several years in advance of other country towns.

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s Maryborough continued to seek new industries.

It was proclaimed a city on 31 March 1961 and by the end of the 1960s it had 56 factories employing 1400 people.

On 19 January 1995, Maryborough city was united with most of Talbot and Clunes, Bet Bet and Tullaroop shires to form Central Goldfields Shire.

CoreLogic data indicates that the predominant age group in Maryborough is 60-69 years with households being primarily childless couples and are likely to be repaying on average $1000 per month on mortgages.

In general, people in Maryborough work in a labourer occupation.