Back to Maitland 1927
Many people who spent their early days in Maitland are expected to return to town during the next few days for the ‘Back to Maitland Week.’ The carnival has been organised in conjunction with the appeal by the Maitland Ambulance for funds to build a new station.
So said the Maitland Daily Mercury of Monday, 7 November, 1927.
The Maitland District Ambulance Brigade, in existence for a few years by this time, was now considered to be providing a necessary service to the community. A committee organised to raise funds for the project to build a station decided to make a big appeal by organising a ‘Back to Maitland’ Week. Ex-Maitlanders, who the Mercury said, ‘are to be found in prominent positions and in business throughout Australia’ would, it was hoped, be part of this important initiative. This was, after all, a community-building endeavour in which all citizens and friends of Maitland could be said to have a stake.
The week: a Souvenir Book and a Queen competition
Regional centres in New South Wales often held promotional events like this one, and many maintain the tradition although the formats, themes and styles of the festivities have evolved greatly over the past century.
In 1927 an 80-page souvenir book was produced to promote the carnival events of the ‘Back to Maitland Week’. It was sold to the public for the price of a shilling (1/-or 12 pence, the equivalent of several dollars today).
First page of the souvenir book.
The Souvenir Book brings some reminders of things past.
A photo of the Maitland Jockey Club’s racecourse at Rutherford is one. The club was an early addition to the Maitland scene with races held by publicans to celebrate St Patrick’s Day in particular.
Sport has always been popular in Maitland. In the souvenir book a page was dedicated to football, but lawn tennis and cricket each had two pages. The sporting clubs were advertising their wares via the booklet. Many firms did the same thing and their advertisements would have helped pay for the book’s production.
Among the festivities during the ‘Week’ was a ‘Queen of the Carnival’ competition. Two young ladies had been chosen as candidates to contest it, Miss Venita Geggie of West Maitland and Miss Clare Hinchey representing East Maitland.
The programme included a carnival in Elgin St, held over three nights. There was a dance at the Town Hall to support Miss Hinchey on the Tuesday evening and a Grand Procession at 4 pm on Wednesday with closure of businesses: many local community organisations took part. Thursday night saw a dance in the Town Hall in aid of Miss Geggie, and on Friday night there was a Ladies’ Street Day and Grand Shopping-Night Carnival. On the Saturday, visitors were farewelled at the Town Hall and there was an old-time dance in the Catholic Hall.
Miss Geggie won the Queen competition by 52, 310 votes to Miss Hinchey’s 31,035. Miss Hinchey, with ‘fine sporting spirit’ according to the Mercury on Saturday, 12 November, congratulated her rival on her victory.
High St, the paper reported in the same edition, had been ‘thronged’ with spectators the previous evening and there was an ‘immense’ crowd in Elgin St where most of the action of the Carnival took place.
A sum of nearly £600 (probably more than $20,000 in today’s money) was raised for the building of the Ambulance Station. Maitland’s residents, and the people who had returned from elsewhere for the occasion, were obviously supportive of the project.
The Eisteddfod
Other organisations also supported the building of the Ambulance Station. The first Maitland District Eisteddfod, held in 1925, was organised by the Maitland Police to assist the Maitland District Ambulance Brigade with the station-building project. This first Eisteddfod was a success, which led to a committee being formed and the Eisteddfod becoming an annual event in Maitland for many years.
A sketch of the proposed ambulance building.
(Souvenir Book)
The Ambulance Station was built on High St next to the Town Hall. It was to serve the Maitland community for decades as an endeavour that was built from local efforts, not simply from government funding.
References
Maitland Mercury
Rudkin, Val, ‘Our past: great city support for its new ambulance station’, Maitland Mercury, 13 August 2021.
Souvenir Book: Back to Maitland Week 7th to 12th November 1927, University of Newcastle Collection.