A Step Back in Time

Our Lawyers office at 134 Wharf Street, Maryborough has a long history dating back about 155 years. Set in the top end of the Maryborough Portside Precinct, the land was originally purchased by Henry Palmer in 1852. Construction was believed to be completed by 23 September 1869 based on the advert placed in the Chronicle by M. Braun on that date, a local Tailor on advertising he was relocating his business from Kent Street to one of Henry Palmer’s new shops in Wharf Street, Maryborough.

Ariel photographs from the Maryborough Post Office tower taken in approximately 1880 suggest that our office was originally the end of three identical shops in a row, each bearing a common awning over the front footpath and identical, individual steeply pitched roof structures. Historic data from around 1872 also suggests these shops were next to the original Maryborough council chambers, another modest building which appears to have sat where the CWA building is now located on the Richmond Street side.

Numerous other occupants after Martin Braun operated out of the shop until it falls into the estate of Henry Palmer following his passing in 1916. Interestingly, records suggest that his Grandson (also called Henry Palmer) had taken up occupation in the shop in about 1912 as a practicing architect. I believe he subsequently purchased the property following his grandfather’s passing and remained in occupation there for about the next 40 years until he retired in 1953, designing many of Maryborough’s houses and buildings throughout that period.

After that, it is occupied by various other Maryborough professionals such as a Maryborough photographer, different Maryborough solicitors, a Maryborough dressmaker, a Maryborough photocopier and various other Maryborough retailers until our Maryborough Lawyers office commences from this location in July 2019.

Our Maryborough Lawyers office was entered into the state Heritage Register on 21 October, 1992 for its historical, cultural and aesthetic significance. The building proudly boasts a brass plaque to the right of the front entrance door denoting it as Maryborough’s Oldest Working Shop - Since 1869. In the almost 5 years our Maryborough Lawyers office has been located here, we have observed that tourists and Maryborough locals alike regularly stop, admire and photograph this and other heritage buildings in the Wharf Street, Maryborough area. To think that it is about 155 years old really is a testament to how well some of these structures were built back then.