Engineers' Arms Hotel

Engineers' Arms Hotel is a heritage-listed former hotel at 115 March Street, Maryborough, Fraser Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Samuel Bragg and built in 1889 by Mr Caldwell. It is also known as Mayfair Boarding House. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.HistoryThe former Engineers' Arms Hotel in Maryborough was constructed in 1889 for Ann Dillane, to designs of Samuel Bragg, a local architect. It replaced an earlier building, also called the Engineers' Arms.Settlement at Maryborough commenced in September 1847 when George Furber established a woolstore on the south bank of the Mary River at the head of navigation. He was followed in June 1848 by ET Aldridge and Henry and RE Palmer, who established their own wharves on the opposite riverbank, at a location now known as the original Maryborough town site at Baddow. In 1850 a new town site was surveyed to the east, at a downstream position which provided better access for shipping. The first sale of land at this new site occurred in 1852, but most residents did not shift to the current centre of Maryborough until 1855 and 1856. Maryborough was gazetted a Port of Entry in 1859 and was proclaimed a municipality, the Borough of Maryborough, in 1861. During the 1860s and 1870s it flourished as the principal port for the nearby Gympie goldfield and as an outlet for timber and sugar. The establishment of manufacturing plants and primary industries sustained growth in the town into the twentieth century.