General News
7 August, 2026
Crosswords build community
Maryborough competed in the annual Clever Towns Crossword Challenge over the weekend.
Maryborough lost a crossword competition at the library on Saturday, but winning wasn’t the point.
The annual Clever Towns Crossword Challenge puts Central Goldfields and neighbouring shires into a head-to-head competition.
Teams from seven townships had an hour and a half to solve The Sunday Age general knowledge crossword.
Challengers could use the libraries books, or bring their own, but the internet was strictly banned.
These were the conditions each team faced in their race for glory, a title Trentham ultimately enjoyed.
The famed booktown of Clunes was close on their heels with a crack team of local crossworders.
They were the picture of competition Maryborough could not match with fewer than five community members taking part.
They may not have given the town its first win, but for Maryborough Library’s Bec Clark, that wasn’t the goal.
Instead her focus as a librarian was on bringing the community together.
“People aren’t under obligation but it’s fun. It’s a bit about community cohesion,” she said.
Maryborough Library’s Maree Stephenson said the crossword was an opportunity to show another side of the Maryborough community.
“Let’s face it, Maryborough hasn’t got a great rep,” she said.
“[Taking part] is a little bit of town pride.”
A handful of community members pooled their collective knowledge and research to solve the puzzle.
When 18 down alluded the crossworders, it was a team effort that corrected a mistake, revealing taboo was the solution all along.
Those small victories stacked up until just two words remained.
One was a co-pioneer of pointillism while the other was a missing word from a historic quote.
Despite a crowd growing in the final minutes the squares remained empty — Maryborough had lost.
Yet Ms Clark got what she hoped for.
“It’s just working as a community which I love the idea of,” she said.
While another year’s competition may have come and gone Ms Clark was already planning for the next.
“We encourage everyone to come and have a look. You might know a question someone else doesn’t,” she said.
“We are yet to win but maybe one day.”