The announcement was one of two made in Maryborough on Wednesday, with a further $1.8 million announced for the activation of the heritage-listed Maryborough Railway Station as a business hub, and another $50,000 to facilitate the moving of the Maryborough Visitor Information Centre from its current location in Phillips Gardens to the famous railway station.

Minister for Regional Development Mary-Anne Thomas made the funding announcement at the opening of the repurposed Maryborough Information Centre, which will now be the home of Go Goldfields, a cross-business partnership initiative backed by Central Goldfields Shire Council in partnership Regional Development Victoria and the Sydney-based Sabemo Foundation.

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Central Goldfields Shire, which has Maryborough as its central town surrounded by smaller communities, has consistently ranked as one of the most disadvantaged areas in Victoria over past decades with high unemployment and poor levels of literacy and numeracy, despite repeated attempts to increase school attendance and retention, and numerous programs to increase business growth and employment.

The town has suffered since the wider decline of industry statewide in the 1980s. Once one of the 10 largest towns in Victoria in the 1960s, following the gold rush Maryborough had a thriving railway hub servicing all parts of the state, knitting mills, portable home construction, toolmaking, bookbinding and printing industries, flour mills and an agricultural core.

"I'm very proud the Andrews government will announce in tomorrow's Budget one million dollars for the continuation of this program," Ms Thomas said.

"Every Child, Every Chance is a community-led initiative which recognises some children in Maryborough need extra-special support as babies; indeed their mothers need support through pregnancy and those early years.

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"It really is about helping some of our more vulnerable community members navigate their way through parenthood and ensure they have all the information, knowledge and care they need to be the best parents they can."

Ms Thomas and Central Goldfields Shire mayor Christopher Meddows-Taylor said the $1.8 million for the railway station will not only create much-needed jobs in the shire, but help grow tourism, with a doubling in user numbers for the information centre since it had moved to the station.

"The historic and iconic Maryborough station is about to get a $1.8 million upgrade; this money will go towards and expansion of the business centre, an expansion of the cafe and an expansion of the co-working space."

Cr Meddows-Taylor said the proposed World Heritage listing for the Victorian Goldfields region would also help build the tourism economy to a great extent, increasing job growth.

Ms Thomas was joined at the announcement by Cr Meddows-Taylor, councillors Liesbeth Long and Anna De Villiers, shire CEO Lucy Roffey, along with CGSC staff and other members of the Maryborough community.

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