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Step back into the past at the Maryborough Heritage Centre, which is no doubt the focal point of the Wharf Street Precinct, which it is intended that the Maryborough District be promoted to tourists and avid historians.

Sit on the verandah of the beautifully restored Bank Building, on the corner of Wharf and Richmond Streets, visualise a world thought to be past. Watch Mary Schoon and her brother William disembark from the "Great Queensland" carrying the "red box" her relatives claimed would never reach Australia. Listen to another female passenger on this same ship trying to arrange return passage to England immediately after witnessing a large number of our natives lining the shores of the Mary River.

Listen as the Immigration Agent decides what he is to do with the passenger, who has arrived on the ship "Gauntlet". Beside his name on the passenger list, the statement reads, "Appears to be an idiot and sent out to be got rid of. Imagine the poor Captain of the "Tannadice" when he discovers he has two stowaways on board. Alfred Heart, a Tinsmith and Stephan Brill, a Miner successfully managed to do this.

Sit and wonder how you would feel, when, after travelling sixteen weeks on a ship. Most of these, under very cramped conditions. Arrive at your destination to find you will not be unloaded because it is Sunday and no food is available to feed you, resulting in four more days on board unnecessarily.

Step inside this old bank building, it is unique, as it overlooks the very place where your forebears first stepped on Australian soil and walked up the then muddy street on the way to their new life. Many wonderful discoveries are possible, as well as attending births, deaths and marriages in the 1600’s and 1700’s of the old parish Churches. If you, like many of us are looking for a skeleton in your closet to spice up your family tree. Or you may find out one of the many couples, hauled up before the congregation for immoral behaviour and made to confess their sins, was one of yours.