Grand opening - March 1857
Preparations
On 28 March 1857, the Maitland Mercury confirmed that the Governor-General William Denison would open the now completed railway from Hexham to East Maitland. The newspaper also stated:
A great number of visitors from Sydney are expected; and application has been made for the band of the 11th Regiment … [to] be in attendance, as well as the German band. Arrangements are also being made for roasting a bullock.
The expectation was that the opening, scheduled for 30 March 1857, would be a grand series of celebrations.
The day was declared a general holiday. The railway contractor, Mr Wright, hosted a dinner for all the men working on the line. In Newcastle, buildings were decorated with flags and the streets were thronged with holiday makers anticipating the vice regal visit. It was a similar situation in Maitland:
Governor arrives
The Governor-General travelled overnight from Sydney on the Collaroy and, on arrival in Newcastle on the morning of 30 March, they were greeted by a gun fire salute. After disembarking, the party were escorted to Rouse’s Hotel for refreshments and a first round of speeches. A procession consisting of the military guard of honour, railway officers, clergy, magistrates, the fire brigade and eminent citizens and organisations escorted them to the Honeysuckle railway terminus.
The Governor-General’s train departed Honeysuckle at 9:30 am and, after stopping at Hexham, it arrived in East Maitland about 10:20 am to be welcomed by the crowd from East and West Maitland and Morpeth. His Excellency gave a brief speech on alighting from his carriage. He re-named the Hunter River Railway the Great Northern Railway and declared it open.
Other speeches, welcomes and responses followed.
Reverend Rusden gave a welcoming speech on behalf of the residents of East Maitland. The Governor-General replied.
Rusden then, as President of the Maitland Mechanics Institute, presented an address on behalf of that institution. The Governor-General responded with praise of the institution and accepting the office of patron.
I am glad to hear so favourable an account of the progress of an institution which is calculated to confer a lasting benefit upon the people of Maitland, and I shall with pleasure accept the office as Patron of your society.
There were also addresses from Mr P. Green on behalf of the residents of West Maitland, and Mr J.F. Burns, the Secretary of the Maitland School of Arts.
The Governor-General’s party then set out, by road, for West Maitland, to attend a reception (referred to as a ‘levee’ in the press reports) at the Northumberland Hotel. About eighty men were presented to him. Lunch was then served and, as the Mercury stated, was ‘laid out with the well-known good taste and excellence of the Northumberland establishment’.
By 1.30 pm the party had returned to East Maitland where they were met by local dignitaries including Major Crummer, E.C. Close and Reverend Rusden. The Governor-General then attended a ‘levee’ in the jury room before returning to the East Maitland Railway Station. A large crowd farewelled the party. The train trip to Newcastle took about 36 minutes, with a stop at Hexham.
In West Maitland, several men arranged to finish the railway holiday with a dinner at Fulford’s Rose Inn. About 25 men attended, ate and made many toasts.
Part 4 in my account of the building of the Great Northern Railway pauses to look at the challenges and uses of the railway during its first year or so of operation.
References
Henderson, Lawrence, ‘Our past: Newcastle to Maitland railway comes of age: opens March 30, 1857’, Maitland Mercury, 24 August 2020.
Maitland Mercury, 31 March 1857, p2; 2 April 1857, p4;
