Experience Maryborough’s Nighttime Magic

Wait until dark and you can see the heritage city in a new light. It might not be quite like the other City of Lights – Paris – but parts of the inner streets glow to create unexpected ethereal highlights for architectural treasures.

Reigning supreme is the City Hall, where the façade in American Colonial grandeur shines against the night sky. Colours bathing the City Hall after dark can change each month: blue one month, green, yellow, pink, purple or another shade the next month, signalling empathy with a worthy cause marked at that time of the year.

As dusk falls, fairy lights begin to twinkle in the spreading branches of the majestic fig trees on Chifley Place, commonly known as the town hall green. The grand trees wreak havoc with pipes and cables under the ground but we have many reasons to forgive them, including the magical effect they create in the evening.

In Adelaide Street, rather gaudy modern interpretations of Victorian streetlights change colours as they stand guard at the two shared spaces on the roadway.

Follow the lights along the Queen’s Park memorial to the Cenotaph and on to the Story Bank wall in Richmond Street, where you might be lucky enough to catch Mary Poppins flying across the rooftops after dark until 9pm. She’s a bit finicky with technology so cross your fingers.

The floodlit courthouse and glowing colonial buildings along Wharf Street create an other-worldly sense, an ethereal reminder of Maryborough’s colonial past. Bathed in soft light, architectural details come into sharp focus.

Ghost tour guides say reports of hair standing up on the back of necks are part of the experience. Apart from ghosts, a little care should be taken at night – like most cities in this era we do have occasional problems with anti-social behaviour.

Maryborough at night offers a free and unforgettable experience of illuminated landmarks that show you the city in a whole new light—literally and figuratively.