The Maryborough Time Cannon

Mounted in front of the City Hall, a 350-year-old brass cannon is one of only two cannon used in Queensland as time guns. The other was in Brisbane.

Originally from a Dutch East Indies ship, the cannon was discovered when Premier John Douglas visited Marbiak Island in 1877. The gun had possibly lain the sand for 200 years. Its origins were a mystery. Maryborough had been agitating for a time gun so Premier Douglas decided to give the relic to the municipality as a Christmas present.

Before the cannon arrived Maryborough’s  time was set by a problem-plagued time ball on the post office tower which was only helpful if you had hawk-like vision and a view of the 1pm drop. The cannon’s boom could be heard at Tiaro.

It was last fired in 1900 to celebrate the relief of Mafeking then mounted with the other guns in Queen’s Park. After an attempt to steal it, probably because of the valuable brass, it was retrieved from down the bank it sat in the council potting shed for a few years before being placed at the swimming pool, back in the park and then in the prominent City Hall position in 1986.

Maryborough’s Chamber of Commerce agitated to have it fired again as a tourist attraction but it was too fragile. Olds Engineering cast a replica which was fired to mark the 1988 Bicentennial Year.

The replica featured at the Maryborough exhibit at World Expo and fired by Peter Olds and then Mayor Alan Brown, causing a minor sensation and a security scare when it first boomed out.  

The time gun is traditionally fired at 1pm on Market Days and on special occasions. We have had some difficulties with officialdom but hopefully our famous firings will continue.