Visitors are busting to tour the toilets at Maryborough’s Town Hall, cheekily dubbed the Cistern Chapel.

If you’re anything like me, you avoid public toilets. That’s not the case with Maryborough’s Cistern Chapel. People flock to use the facility and as Nancy Bates says, “Almost everyone leaves here with a smile on their face."

How did this unique toilet come to be?

When community-minded Bates, former editor of the Fraser Coast Chronicle, went to use the toilets in late 2019, she thought, “Hell – this is in the middle of what is now a tourist precinct and it’s not good enough."  She wanted “toilets to pull people off the highway [and] see what other marvels, quirky attractions…we had to offer."

The wall-to-ceiling artworks on the walls took so long to complete that committee member Greig Bolderrow suggested dropping the original name ‘Divine Dunnies’ and calling the facility the ‘Cistern Chapel’. The name stuck.

Since opening in May 2022, thousands have passed through the doors to spend a penny or to be shown around by a “Flusher Usher."

What to expect in the Cistern Chapel

Volunteer “Flusher Ushers" run the tours. They ensure the coast is clear for men to check out the ladies’ loo, where they’ll hear classical chamber music suited to the feminine theme. Murals depict women in soft white, flowing dresses as they smell and pick the flowers in a cottage garden. Fresh flowers in hand-carved wooden vases adorn the windowsill.

When I take a seat, it’s a little disconcerting that the woman on the wall appears to be watching me. A second cubicle, with walls of gold, houses a golden throne beneath a gilt-framed mirror.

Local artist, Akos Juhasz, painted the ladies’ and men’s toilets. The latter have an industrial feel. The first locomotive to be built in Queensland, the Mary Ann, was built in Maryborough and features on one wall. Beside it is the bespectacled face of Maryborough Mayor Billy Demaine, who defied the no vote in a 1935 referendum to make the city the second in Queensland to get a sewerage system.

The women in the planning committee had a bit of fun with the men’s loo. A statue of Apollo holds a magnifying glass in his outstretched hand above the urinals as Handel’s Water Music plays in the background.

Gary Madden, also a local, painted the whimsical scene in the parents’ room. It’s a fun place for little people who’ll enjoy finding the creatures hidden in the artwork. Butterflies, a frog, a willy wagtail. Little furry friends fly in the hot air balloons hanging from the ceiling.

Where to find the Cistern Chapel

Maryborough, a city of Queensland’s Fraser Coast, is a short half-hour drive south of Hervey Bay and a three-hour drive north of Brisbane. The Cistern Chapel is on the side of the Town Hall alongside Town Hall Green.

There’s more to Maryborough than a unique toilet

Visitors will meet a bronze statue of Duncan Chapman, the first ANZAC ashore at Gallipoli, when they discover the Gallipoli to Armistice Trail. Chapman was born in Maryborough.

Story Bank is housed in the former bank where Mary Poppins’ creator, P.L. Travers, was born. The whimsical interactive display will appeal to adults and children alike.

Only one of the 39 VCs awarded for the Gallipoli Campaign is on display outside the Australian War Memorial. You can see it in Maryborough’s Military and Colonial Museum.

Pop into the Visitor Information Centre in the City Hall to collect a map of the two-kilometre mural trail. There are 39 murals to discover. And while you’re there, ask about the free 90-minute Heritage Walking Tour.