Bang on time.
Broadside at Portside.
“Hear ye hear ye ………………….”
The town crier announces to all and sundry that the time is fast approaching for the Maryborough cannon to announce that the time is now 1.00pm.
It was an off chance discovery on a Torres Strait island for there protruding in the sand was the partially exposed cannon.
The most likely scenario is that the cannon offered protection to an unknown Dutch East Indies vessel that had once plied its trade in the waters north of Queensland.
What is known is that the cannon was gifted to the city of Maryborough where it was restored and fired after a long sojourn for the first time in 1878.
After receiving the official time signal from Brisbane at 12.00pm employees from the Electric Telegraph Department would ceremoniously fire the cannon at 1.00pm to announce the time to residents of the city.
Firing the cannon came at a cost and at 1/3d (roughly 13 cents) a pound, for the blasting powder, and it required almost a pound each firing the Superintendent of Electric Telegraphs based in Brisbane deemed the cost too excessive and so it came to an end.
It was a daily event that began on 21st March 1878 and continued until early 1879.
The local council quickly accepted the responsibility for the daily firing which they maintained until possibly as late as 1890.
In later years a full size replica of the cannon was made and it is this cannon that can be seen in action at 11.00am at Portside, Customs House Residence Lawn, Wharf Street with a later firing at the more traditional time of 1.00pm at City Hall Green where it is always bang on time.
As for the original cannon it can be seen at the Bond Store in Wharf Street.
Maryborough, Queensland, Australia.
Bang on time.
Broadside at Portside.
“Hear ye hear ye ………………….”
The town crier announces to all and sundry that the time is fast approaching for the Maryborough cannon to announce that the time is now 1.00pm.
It was an off chance discovery on a Torres Strait island for there protruding in the sand was the partially exposed cannon.
The most likely scenario is that the cannon offered protection to an unknown Dutch East Indies vessel that had once plied its trade in the waters north of Queensland.
What is known is that the cannon was gifted to the city of Maryborough where it was restored and fired after a long sojourn for the first time in 1878.
After receiving the official time signal from Brisbane at 12.00pm employees from the Electric Telegraph Department would ceremoniously fire the cannon at 1.00pm to announce the time to residents of the city.
Firing the cannon came at a cost and at 1/3d (roughly 13 cents) a pound, for the blasting powder, and it required almost a pound each firing the Superintendent of Electric Telegraphs based in Brisbane deemed the cost too excessive and so it came to an end.
It was a daily event that began on 21st March 1878 and continued until early 1879.
The local council quickly accepted the responsibility for the daily firing which they maintained until possibly as late as 1890.
In later years a full size replica of the cannon was made and it is this cannon that can be seen in action at 11.00am at Portside, Customs House Residence Lawn, Wharf Street with a later firing at the more traditional time of 1.00pm at City Hall Green where it is always bang on time.
As for the original cannon it can be seen at the Bond Store in Wharf Street.
Maryborough, Queensland, Australia.