Maitland Mechanics’ Institute
Schools of Arts, Mechanics’ Institutes and similar organisations were established across the English-speaking world during the nineteenth century. Their roles were to provide their members with access to literature, educational lectures and leisure pursuits. They were a means of diverting people away from what were considered ‘less edifying’ pastimes’ (like drinking and gambling) to places where literary, scientific and other knowledge could be obtained and shared.
The Maitland Mechanics’ Institute was among the earliest ‘further’ educational institutions inaugurated in the colony of New South Wales. The Sydney Mechanics’ School of Arts had been established in 1833, and a School of Arts was set up in West Maitland in 1854. The terms ‘Mechanics’ Institute and School of Arts were broadly interchangeable.
Formation
At a meeting held on 3 December 1856 at the Court House, East Maitland, to form a Mechanics’ Institute, a provisional committee was elected. The Reverend G K Rusden was to occupy the chair, Mr T W Robinson was made secretary and Mr Whytlaw Treasurer. The Institute was formally established at the same location on 10 December. At a following meeting on 8 January 1857, it was reported that membership had reached 60 persons and that Mr Weekes had made a donation of £5/6/-.
The first lecture presented at the Institute, entitled ‘The changes that have taken place on the earth’s surface, produced by aqueous and by igneous agency’, was delivered by the Rev Rusden at the Court House on 13 January at 7.30 pm. A temporary library and reading room had been set up by this stage in a cottage owned by Samuel Clift, in Banks St. Clift provided two rooms rent-free for six months. Lectures continued on a fortnightly basis and ranged widely from poets and literature to health, history, science and technology.
Sir William Denison, Governor General of the Australian Colonies, visited East Maitland on 30 March 1857, to open the Great Northern Railway. Among the various welcoming committees, the Rev Rusden, representing the Maitland Mechanics’ Institute (now numbering 94 members), respectfully requested that His Excellency become Patron of the Institute. His Excellency replied:
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.
The building and its roles
An independent building to house the Institute was desirable, and a committee was formed to find a suitable site. After rejecting sites in Melbourne Street and Day Street the Trustees had, by July 1857, settled on a parcel of land in Banks Street on which to construct the Institute’s building. The land was purchased from Henry Ingall for the sum of £200. Soon after, a Building Committee was formed, and fundraising for the building began. The Committee accepted a tender of £1800 by Mr Cains for the erection of the building, which was designed by Mr A Dixon of East Maitland.
The foundation stone of the new building was laid on Tuesday, 26 July 1859, by Sir Charles Nicholson, Bart., Provost of the University of Sydney. A bottle containing that day’s copies of the Maitland Mercury, the Newcastle Morning Herald and the Sydney Morning Herald, as well as a document containing the names of the people taking part in the ceremony, was deposited in a cavity beneath the foundation stone. As the stone was lowered, the band played ‘God save the Queen’. After the completion of the ceremony, Sir Charles and the official party retired to the Hunter River Hotel for luncheon and more speeches.
Maitland Mechanics’ Institute, Banks St, East Maitland, about 1890
photographed by George Thomas Chambers
The Institute building was formally opened to members of the public on Tuesday, 5 June 1860, in the presence of a large crowd and invited guests from Maitland School of Arts and the newly formed Morpeth School of Arts.
The Maitland Mechanics’ Institute building consisted of a large central hall flanked by two wings of three rooms each. These were the library and reading rooms, meeting rooms and two rooms for the custodian. Lectures were held in the central hall.
Mechanics’ Institute main hall, about 1890
photographed by George Thomas Chambers
Local government came to town when the Municipality of East Maitland was declared in the Government Gazette on 12 March 1862. As the new council had no building of its own, a room in the Mechanics’ Institute became the council chamber. The council remained at the Institute until 1930, when it moved into a new purpose-built chamber on the corner of Lawes Street and Banks Street.
The Institute’s library was expanding with books acquired from Sydney and overseas, particularly from London and Edinburgh. Colonial and international newspapers and magazines were available there. Chess and backgammon boards had been introduced and billiard tables installed.
At the Annual General Meeting of 2 February 1864, the president, Mr A Dodds, stated that the library and reading room had been most active during the previous year, but lamented that few lectures had taken place and that essay and debating courses had fallen away. He hoped they could be revived so that an excellent means of mutual improvement - moral, social and intellectual - would not be neglected by the young men of East Maitland. Presumably, the young women of East Maitland did not need improvement!
The Institute’s hall was also used for entertainment and fundraising (for the hospital and other institutions), with concerts featuring the Maitland Philharmonic Society and the Hunter Amateur Minstrels. On 10 October 1870, a meeting of young gentlemen was held to form a Dramatic Club, and by April 1878, the Literary Society was meeting at the Institute.
First Annual Firemen’s Ball, Literary Institute, 1934
University extension lectures had been mooted previously and had come to Maitland by 1894. Lectures of a literary character were conducted at the Schools of Arts, while scientific lectures were held in the Mechanics’ Institutes.
Ups and downs
Today, the Mechanics’ Institute is known as the Literary Institute. The Mercury seems not to have information on the change of name, but an entry on 30 July 1913 states:
The annual meeting of the Maitland Literary Institute, formerly designated the Mechanics' Institute . . .
For a number of years, either designation was used when reporting events.
By 1930, the Literary Institute was in financial difficulty. The loss of £65 per year after the Municipal Council moved into its own premises, along with the withdrawal of a £20 annual government subsidy, left the Institute in difficult financial straits. Fundraising and other activities were undertaken, and five years later, the financial situation had improved to such an extent that the committee was considering lengthening the hall. This would benefit the Joyster Dance Club, one of the Institute’s sources of income.
In 1939, a proposal was made to amalgamate the Institute and the East Maitland Returned Services League. A vote by the Institute members rendered the proposal unsuccessful, and the Institute remained independent.
The West Maitland Council adopted the NSW Library Act of 4 May 1945, and the Maitland Library opened in December 1946. East Maitland’s Library was established in the Literary Institute in Banks St and opened in September 1949. The library later moved to a site in High St in East Maitland and is now located in a purpose-built building in Garnett Rd, near the Green Hills shopping centre. The Institute was in a flourishing financial position in 1949, but in later years the building deteriorated due to diminished membership, inactivity, lack of maintenance and neglect.
The Maitland City Council has made the decision to demolish the building.
left to right:
Literary Institute Building, about 1977 (Picture Maitland)
Literary Institute building, Banks St, East Maitland (Maitland Mercury)
Literary Institute Building, 2021, in a sad state of disrepair. (Lawrence Henderson)
click on above images for a larger view
The roof of the original building can be seen above the facade that was added at a later date.
References
Henderson, Lawrence, ‘Our past: Mechanics’ Institute was a pioneer of education’, Maitland Mercury, 22 October 2021.
Henderson, Lawrence, ‘Mechanics’ Institute to City’s Literary Institute’, Maitland Mercury, 19 November 2021.
Maitland Daily Mercury: ‘University extension lectures’, 6 April 1894; ‘Maitland Literary Institute Annual Meeting’, 30 July 1913; ‘East Maitland: The East Maitland Municipal Council’, 10 April 1929; ‘East Maitland Literary Institute’, 11 October 1930; ‘East Maitland Literary Institute’, 7 June 1935; ‘E.M. Institute: lengthening hall to be discussed’, 11 October, 1935; ‘Amalgamation: Literary Institute and Returned Soldiers’, 1 August,1939; ‘East Maitland: union proposal fails’, 11 August 1939; ‘Library move at East Maitland’, 23 July,1948.
Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser: ‘The Mechanics’ Institute’, East Maitland, 6 December 1856; ‘The Maitland Mechanics’ Institute’, 9 December 1856; ‘Maitland Mechanics’ Institute’, 8 January 1857; ‘Maitland Mechanics’ Institute’, 13 January 1857; ‘The opening of the railway by the Governor General’, 28 March 1857; ‘Maitland Mechanics’ Institute’, 17 October 1857; ‘Maitland Mechanics’ Institute’, 9 February 1858; ‘Maitland School of Arts’, 13 July 1858; ‘Maitland Mechanics’ Institute’, 9 December 1858; ‘Maitland Mechanics’ Institute’, 14 April 1859; ‘Maitland Mechanics’ Institute’, 26 July 1859; ‘Laying the Foundation Stone of the Maitland Mechanics’ Institute’, 28 July 1859; ‘Maitland Mechanics’ Institute’, 7 June 1860; ‘Amateur Concert in East Maitland’, 10 October 1861; ‘Debating class at East Maitland’, 15 February 1862; ‘Concert in aid of the hospital’, 16 November 1865; ‘Schools of Arts and Mechanics’ Institutes’, 1 September 1866; ‘East Maitland Dramatic Club’, 13 October 1870; ‘Local university examinations’, 29 October 1872; ‘Mechanics’ Institute, East Maitland’, 16 April 1878; ‘East Maitland Literary Society’, 26 October 1878.
Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners Advocate: ‘Cottage of content’, 20 November 1930; ‘East Maitland Literary Institute’, 7 June 1935.
Acknowledgement
Thanks to the Australian National Library’s Trove service for access to past copies of local newspapers.
