A park fit for a Queen

Photo: ‘Top Walk’, Queens Park Maryborough, c.1910.  Image courtesy of the Maryborough Wide Bay & Burnett Historical Society.

“The Botanic Gardens was enlivened with a larger number of promenaders last night than we remember to have seen there before, and the effect of the full moon on the placid water, broken here and there by a passing boat, the soft strains of the music, and the animated conversation and gay laughter of the joyous groups who sat on the grassy slopes or strolled among the odorous parterres, made up altogether a scene to be remembered with pleasure.”

Historical records from the late nineteenth century use the names “The Botanical Gardens”, and “Queens Park” to refer to varying combinations of the reserve lands which make up Queens Park as we know it today.

What we see if we stand at the top of the park in Sussex Street is very different to what greeted the early settlers in Maryborough. However, the general site had been set aside for a community space early in the life of Maryborough and in 1869, community plantings were occurring.
At this time, the Park had a variety of uses and included areas for promenading, swing sets, ball playing areas, ornamental flower beds and planted trees and shrubs.

Did you know?

Maryborough Queen's Park is the second oldest botanic garden in Queensland. It is innudated in flood waters and in January 2022 a shark was spotted swimming where park goers walk.