General News
1 July, 2025
Council vote to advance new heritage overlays for Maryborough after 26 years
Maryborough is filled with history, it’s a heritage that’s reflected along its streets, and one that may be redrawn after last week’s council meeting.
Last Wednesday the Central Goldfields Shire Council voted to advance new heritage overlays intended to free up the city for redevelopment.
The Maryborough Heritage Review Study, which has been ongoing since 2022 and involved “extensive” community engagement, will decide what buildings are heritage and deserve protection compared to what’s simply old.
Since 1999, much of Maryborough has been under a blanket heritage overlay, known as HO 206, which has limited what could be developed and how.
Instead, the review proposes heritage protections for seven individual places, nine heritage precincts and two group listings which cover a significantly smaller area.
The recommendation to council said the new overlays better reflected the heritage values of Maryborough’s urban areas.
Councillor Geoff Bartlett said the amendments to the planning scheme would help the shire reach 1700 new homes by 2051, a target imposed by State Government.
“We have a lot of great heritage buildings but a lot of the buildings in the town are just old, not everything’s heritage,” he said.
“A lot of land has been under [HO 206] and can’t be developed.”
It’s a challenge Jacinta Clifford, director of Professionals Maryborough, said she was facing when speaking to The Addy earlier this year.
“I’ve got a property at the moment that I’m selling, the house needs to be knocked down, it’s on a corner allotment, perfect for three new buildings, but the overlay says it can’t be taken down,” she said.
For locals still within a heritage overlay there will also be a document establishing general permit exemptions including repair and maintenance, new roofing, painting, and minor modifications.
Council’s decision follows three years of back and forth with the community, who largely made up the Heritage Reference Group, who councillor Anna De Villiers thanked.
“I would like to use this opportunity to thank the members of the panel — because this has been going on for quite some time — for their patience, commitment and the input delivered when reading the report resulting from this process,” she said.
“It was a fascinating process and interesting to see how the decisions were made. What impressed me most was the local knowledge of members of the panel.”
The Maryborough Heritage Review Study will now be advanced to seek Ministerial Authorisation before coming into effect.