Marysville

Overview

Marysville is a short scenic drive from Melbourne. Since the February 09 bushfires the landscape has changed dramatically. It was always well known for it’s beautiful gardens and scenery, this is still the case in many locations and in others the landscape is very different. It is diverse from tall blackened trees to green fairways of the Golf Course. It is a landscape of hope and new life. In Marysville you will find locations unlike any other.

Nestled in the valley beside Melbourne’s closest ski field, Marysville has varied settings from burnt bushland with vibrant green regrowth, to gently flowing streams and snow covered mountains. Marysville is ever changing and can provide the film industry with many worthwhile locations.

History

Marysville started in the early 1860s as a camping place for diggers on their way east to the Woods Point goldfield. John Steavenson, the Assistant Commissioner for Roads and Bridges, made the site his headquarters while surveying and overseeing the construction of access roads to the new goldfields. He surveyed the townsite in 1863 or 1864 and named it after his wife Mary.

At that time the Barton Brothers general store, bakery and butchery was in operation. They later established a delivery service to the goldfields via packhorse. 1865 saw farming commence with the first land sales and the appointment of a postmaster.

After the railway arrived at Healesville in 1889 guesthouses were established in the area, inaugurating the era of tourism which, together with timber and agriculture, replaced the goldmining which ceased in the district in 1914. Marysville subsequently became known as Melbourne's honeymoon capital with visitors drawn by the bushwalks and Steavenson Falls.

Places of interest

Golf – Green Fairways and greens surrounded by black trees
Bruno’s sculpture garden (60% of sculptures surviving fires)
Lake Mountain (open to public, however many buildings lost due to fires)
Buxton Trout Farm
The Black Spur – Open and beautiful. Burnt during fires, however bursting back to life

Accommodation

For more information contact the friendly staff at Marysville and Mystic Mountains Visitor Information Centre:

Address: 11 Murchison Street, Marysville.
Telephone: 03 5963 4567
Facsimile: 03 5963 4444
Email: info@marysvilletourism.com
Website: http://www.marysvilletourism.com/index.htm

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