We have spent a week with family in Gympie and we are now travelling north then west to explore some sights in the Burnett area, a bit closer to home than our usual trips.

First stop is historic Maryborough, a large town with an abundance of beautiful old buildings and plenty of artwork. We are camped near the river at a small caravan park on Wharf Street. It is easy walking distance to the town and its places of interest.

The information centre is within the town hall, it’s a beautiful historic building and enclosed within the building is one of the most ornate toilet blocks “the Cistern Chapel” we have ever seen.

Queens park is worth a visit. It was of great interest to me as one of my first university field trips was to study the Bunya Pine, Araucaria bidwillii, and associated plant communities located in the Bunya Mountains. Interestingly Queens Park supports trees from John Bidwill plant collection, he was the government botanist in 1847, and is whom the Bunya Pine is named after and who is honoured in the park.

The Maryborough Military and Colonial Museum is a must see museum. It’s content equals that which can be found at the Australian War Museum and while the buildings footprint is substantially smaller, its many personal accounts captured in photographs, displays and words makes the visit quite informative and humbling.