Location
Maitland is a city in the Lower Hunter Valley of New South Wales, Australia and the seat of Maitland City Council, situated on the Hunter River approximately 166 kilometres by road north of Sydney and 35 km north-west of Newcastle. It is on the New England Highway about 17 km from its start at Hexham.
Most of the population located in a strip along the New England Highway between the suburbs of Rutherford and Metford respectively. The city centre is located on the right bank of the Hunter River, protected from potential flooding by a levee. (wikipedia)
History
Originally Maitland was a culmination of three separate towns which arose roughly all around the same time. West Maitland, now just Maitland, was a privately founded town which grew because of its proximity to the river and which today is the commercial centre of the city. The other areas were East Maitland, which was established by the colonial New South Wales government, and Morpeth, another private town founded by Lieutenant Close, a Peninsular War veteran. Each town functioned as if they were separate municipalities.
The name, Maitland, was reported in 1885 to have had its name taken ‘from Sir George Maitland, … Under Secretary for the Colonies, and M.P. for the Borough of Whitchurch, in Hampshire, England’.
The present city was proclaimed in 1945 with the amalgamation of the three local government areas. The city’s boundaries have been increased by incorporating parts of other local government areas since then (most notably Kearsley Shire which from 1946 to 1949 was the only local government area in Australia’s history to have a Communist majority of councillors).
West Maitland was founded in 1820 close to the tidal reach of the Hunter River where vessels with a shallow draft could navigate. Nearby Morpeth served as the head of navigation for larger ships (later, steamships), and goods would be transhipped upriver to West Maitland on barges and smaller vessels. Originally the river route between Morpeth and West Maitland was 26 kilometres, today after various floods and river course changes this has reduced to just 9 kilometres.
Maitland was therefore the point at which goods were unloaded for, and distributed to, the prosperous riverland of the Hunter Valley. Accordingly, there were large warehouses (some of which still exist) built, which faced onto the main High Street and backed onto the Hunter River. For almost 20 years until the Victorian gold rush, Maitland was the second largest town in Australia. The arrival of the railway from Newcastle in the 1850s, coupled with the increasing silting of the river and larger ships spelt the end of the traditional river traffic.
The first electricity connected in the area was to Maitland Town Hall in 1922, to the Hall’s front light. (wikipedia)
Places of Interest
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