Museums & Genealogy

What better way to take a step back in time than by visiting one of the beautifully curated museums in Maryborough and Surrounds. With many Australian families connected to the gold rush era, this is a fabulous opportunity to explore and uncover your own family history.

The accredited Worsley Cottage Museum is also home to the Maryborough Midlands Historical Society. The 1894 bluestone cottage is furnished with period pieces and offers a huge display of goldfields maps, photographs and mining relics. In the backyard is Squatter’s Slab Hut, built in 1844, it’s the oldest known building in the district.

Located at the northern end of the Maryborough Railway Station is the Museum of Australian History & Art Gallery. Take a unique journey through Australia’s past, focusing on Indigenous and gold rush history. The Talbot Arts & Communications Museum was once a Primitive Methodist Church and today it houses the Edwards Collection – photographs, documents and trade and lifestyle material from an early settler, watchmaker and jeweler, JB Edwards.

Also in Talbot is the Talbot Heritage Station, a rail museum with many books and collectables. Visit the Dunolly Historic Precinct and experience 1860s law and justice. Sit on the judge’s bench or be a prisoner, in the dock at the grand Court House or cells. The precinct also includes a working police station from the 1950s. Investigate the Dunolly Goldfields Museum – home to many relics and historical displays including a large assortment of WWI and WWII firearms and replica collections of locally found gold nuggets including the Welcome Stranger.