Marysville - Culture and 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.

By the 1920s there were twelve guesthouses and an hotel. The Bartons converted their stables into a motor-car garage at this time to encourage automobile traffic. The Acheron Tourist Rd joined Marysville with Healesville in 1929.

The Wirreanda Festival is a summer celebration which is held on the last weekend of February. It incorporates a street parade, food-and-wine festival, art, craft and photography exhibitions, markets, childrens' activities, historical displays and the opening to the public of the area's best private gardens. Markets are held in the carpark at the Visitor Information Centre on the second Sunday of every month.