What, why, how - an invitation

Researching and publicising the history of the Maitland area is the core business of the Maitland and District Historical Society. The Society’s aims are to ‘discover, record, present, advise on and teach the history of Maitland and district’. We seek to meet these aims via articles in the Society’s quarterly Bulletin, guest lectures on matters of historical interest to Maitland people and weekly articles in the Maitland Mercury. We also help people with their enquiries about the history of the Maitland area. Now we add this major new and ambitious project to record and share the history of Maitland and its region online.

Here we provide details about the what, why and how of Maitland: Our Place, Our Stories, and invite people to join us – and contribute – as the website evolves.

What?

Defining Maitland

How we define ‘Maitland’ varies depending on the topic being discussed.

At times our focus is the Maitland Local Government area as it has existed since 1945 (broadly from Greta to Woodberry and Tocal to Testers Hollow).

At other times we deal with the confined area of today’s inner city where the place name ‘Maitland’ originated.

We also focus on the areas over which Maitland has had influence. From the 1820s and into the second half of the nineteenth century Maitland had profound impacts on distant locations as a centre of government control and a source of supplies. Maitland’s sphere extended across the Great Dividing Range and north into Queensland.

Nowadays that influence over distant places is less significant. The nature of Maitland’s interaction with other areas has changed over time. That goes, too, for its interactions with Newcastle, the rest of the lower Hunter Valley and Sydney.

Not just recent decades

Maitland: Our Place, Our Stories is not just about the Maitland of recent decades ꟷ that is, the people, places and events of the period since European settlement began. It also incorporates the natural history of landforms and landscapes, and the history of the Indigenous people of the area.

The natural (environmental) history of the lower Hunter Valley which has underlain the lives of the people who have occupied the area has been quite well covered in the scientific literature. That history goes back hundreds of millions of years and incorporates volcanic eruptions, the laying down of the coal measures, sea level fluctuations, the development of the Hunter River system (including its alluvial flats and the lagoons on the floodplains), and changes in vegetation assemblages. The relevance of this natural history to human history in the Maitland area needs to be brought to the fore more than it has been to date.

Aboriginal history, too, needs more attention than it has received so far. We are delighted to have access to a range of Indigenous historical records and the local Indigenous community to assist us. In time there will be more information added on the Wonnarua, Gringai, Worimi and Awabakal people, the traditional custodians of the area in which Maitland and its environs are now situated.

Topics

The European history of the area is the history that, to date, has received most attention. It tells how, from semi-subsistence agricultural beginnings, Maitland became a gateway to and service centre for a huge area to the west and north. It also became a significant food bowl for Sydney and developed a strong manufacturing base with a secondary focus on coal mining. Later again, a more dominantly service-based economy emerged as both agriculture and manufacturing declined and more Maitland people commuted outside the local area to work. Maitland’s population grew, and its economy was radically transformed several times over the decades.

This broad pattern of growth and change is being explored, interrogated and illustrated through research and stories shared on this website. It also sits behind themes and topics that are central to the history of the district and that provide a further backbone to the material being developed for Maitland: Our Place, Our Stories. Some of these themes and topics are highlighted here.

The Hunter River has dominated Maitland and its people since Aboriginal people arrived in the area tens of thousands of years ago. As a provider (for example of fish for food, water for irrigation and opportunities for recreation), the river has sustained and nourished human life but it also has what might be termed a dangerous and unpredictable personality. There is irony here in that, while sustaining human communities, it can also do them damage: this is the way of rivers. They create their valleys but also re-order them especially when they are in flood and, at such times, they can do great harm to people’s interests. As a community much of which is located on floodplains, Maitland has at times suffered grievously from flooding. Our attempts to avoid the worst impacts of Hunter floods and live sustainably with the challenges that floods create have been constants in the area’s history.

Population. Maitland: Our Place, Our Stories will examine the changing size, composition and cultural diversity of the population of the Maitland area. There are the traditional owners, the Wonnarua, who were dispossessed and marginalised as a result of the arrival of Europeans but whose presence and resilience remain strong and significant.  There is the early European community which was dominantly Anglo-Irish but, like the rest of Australia, became more culturally diverse as immigrants arrived from increasingly varied parts of the world. There are also changing patterns in terms of the age, health and socio-economic backgrounds of the population.

Living together. The Maitland area has witnessed the changing ways in which people have lived together. Different cultural and social practices underpinned Aboriginal society from those of the Europeans who colonised the area, and the two societies had quite different intentions and impacts as far as the use of the natural environment was concerned. As well, Europeans brought and developed forms of social organisation that, until recently, largely excluded the traditional custodians. More recent arrivals, especially after the Second World War, included people from increasingly diverse European and non-European backgrounds who brought their practices and beliefs. Maitland: Our Place, Our Stories will explore aspects of the challenges, tensions and achievements involved in working out ways to live together.

Transport. Shifts in transport modes and their accompanying infrastructures have helped drive economic transformations in the area. An early reliance on the river for moving goods and people gave way to the development of the railways and, later, to the road network and the development of truck transport and high levels of private car ownership.

Urban growth. The physical growth of the urban complex, especially since the Second World War with new suburbs being added, is also being examined. West Maitland, East Maitland and Morpeth, once physically separate communities, have virtually coalesced into and function as a single urban area. Meanwhile areas formerly focused on farming have given way (and are still giving way) to substantial urban development: Thornton, Chisholm, Gillieston Heights, Bolwarra and Lochinvar are examples. These localities and others have emerged as dormitory satellites of both Maitland and Newcastle. The whole Maitland area, indeed, has to a degree become a dormitory suburb of Newcastle and of the coal mining areas of the Upper Hunter. It can even be said, to a small extent, to be a suburb of Sydney, to and from which some people commute daily or weekly for work.

Parts within the whole. We will seek to illuminate the histories of several of the parts within the whole ꟷ Lochinvar, Rutherford, the Central Business District, Horseshoe Bend, Lorn, Bolwarra, Louth Park, East Maitland, Largs, Morpeth, Duckenfield and Millers Forest among others. In examining these areas and their evolutions, we intend to utilise and publicise the oft-unheralded works of local historians who have sought to tell the stories of the localities they have lived in.

High achievers. Maitland has provided high achievers in many fields of endeavour and their accomplishments have been seen at the local, national and international levels. Maitland: Our Place, Our Stories will examine some of these individuals and record their contributions and their imprints on the community and the wider world.

Wars and depressions. The impacts of wars and depressions on the people and the economy will also be covered. We will examine the bad times and the sad as well as the times that were good and in which we can rejoice.

Divisions and unities. Within the community there have, at times, been divisive influences including rivalries between the adherents of different religious faiths, between different geographical communities, between different socio-economic groups and between groups of people with opposing political aspirations. There have also been unifying influences. Sporting and other recreational pursuits have arisen and been modified over the years. Immigration, institutions, politics, governance and other markers of social delineation have all left their imprints. In due course all these elements of Maitland’s history will find a place in Maitland: Our Place, Our Stories.

Continuities and changes are also significant. They are reflected in the histories of, for example, law and order, religious adherence and practices, health, education, fraternal societies, service organisations, the arts and sport.  These changes and continuities have, of course, been played out across Australia and internationally. But they have Maitland expressions, too, that demand exploration in the local context.

Why?

The lessons that can be learned from the activities and experiences of Maitland’s people, in economic and social activity and in life generally across time are being highlighted in Maitland: Our Place, Our Stories. Identifying lessons is, after all, one of the purposes of historical research. History is not just about recording what happened and when it happened: it is about the why and how of what happened and the meaning and significance of it. Significance can include implications for the future and the decisions that will be made to influence that future. History matters for the times still to come.

All communities revisit the recording of their history from time to time. The facts of history don’t change, apart from new facts being discovered, but interpretations and perceptions of any history do as do attitudes to it. Explanations about what happened and why are subject to periodic revision. An example is the recording of the place of Aboriginal people in the history of an area like Maitland: an account written today would be much different from one produced a few decades ago. Our comprehension of the matters involved has changed markedly in the interim. 

Essentially, to understand Maitland, one needs to understand what it has been and how it became what it now is. The vicissitudes of its existence must be catalogued and explained. Maitland has bright new colorbond and concrete suburbs but also housing stock which is old, somewhat dilapidated, near the end of its useful life and likely before long to give way to redevelopment. Given that much of this housing is on flood-liable land, difficult land use decisions will have to be made in determining how these areas are used so that in times to come they can avoid the worst of the consequences that flooding will bring. This is an example of how understanding the past can inform the present and the future. 

Some of Maitland’s history is inspiring, but some has involved pain and loss. It has not always been pretty. Some of this history is also controversial. The intention of Maitland: Our Place, Our Stories is to tell Maitland’s history honestly and fearlessly, and to provide a space where stories and understandings about and from the past can inform the present and the future.

How?

Maitland: Our Place, Our Stories acknowledges and builds on the work of past historians who, over the decades, have collected, researched and written about the locality. These earlier contributions came from, among others, Peter Bogan, Harry Boyle, Andrew Burg, Cynthia Hunter, John W Turner and W Allan Wood.

Current members of the Maitland Historical Society are continuing this tradition of researching and sharing their areas of interest and expertise and, through Maitland: Our Place, Our Stories, are sharing some of their work online.

The decision was that, in the 21st century, the focus – at least initially – would not be on producing a traditional book, its contents contained between cardboard covers. Rather, Maitland: Our Place, Our Stories will develop online, piece by piece and over a period of years. It will not develop as a strict chronology, though a Timeline of important dates and events is included.

The core of the website is the Stories section. Created as a blog, items researched and written by Historical Society members will be published as they become available. The topics will range across items on individuals, objects, events, places and themes. They will be focused, illustrated and connected to references and resources.

There are a variety of ways to access the Stories and the range of work by the different authors:

• list of stories: browse the front page of the Stories section – this lists the stories in order of the dates on which they were posted

• a search field on the front page of the Stories section: enter the name of a person, place, topic or keyword, and a list of stories containing that word will be found

• tags or keywords at the end of each story: click on one of these and other stories tagged with that keyword will be found.

• authors: click on the name of the author of a story – under the title or at the end of the story – and other items contributed by that author will appear

• Themes: this section lists individual stories under the NSW Historical Themes. A story is listed under as many of the themes as are relevant to that story. Click on the Theme heading to access the stories listed under that theme.

The Resources section of the website is pulling together a list of publications, reports and online studies about the history of Maitland and district.

The project is developing incrementally. It is collaborative and multi-authored. New sections and material will be added as they are conceived and created. Possibilities include sections specifically devised for use by schools and an overview or ‘potted’ history of the Maitland area.

The aim is also to be interactive. We seek to incorporate your insights into the history of the Maitland area. We also seek to publicise the project via local media outlets and a presence in social media and in schools.

Please join us!

The Maitland and District Historical Society hopes that the history we produce though Maitland: Our Place, Our Stories will be of interest to the residents of Maitland and to anyone else who wishes to learn about the city and its region. The more people learn about the place and its history, we suspect, the more they will want to learn. We envisage that the project to record that history will continue for a long time, perhaps indefinitely, and hopefully it will be read by increasingly large numbers of people.

The Maitland and District Historical Society trusts that you enjoy the experience of learning about Maitland, its environment, its people and its history. We hope you will come to understand more deeply Maitland’s environmental history, what the area was like long ago and the rich, deep relationships that existed between the Indigenous people and their Country. The arrival of Europeans and their impact on Indigenous life and people will be laid bare as will the economic and social development of Maitland and its surrounds.

We hope that what we are creating is a wide-ranging, all-inclusive history which illuminates the nature of the Maitland area. Maitland’s story is richly, fascinatingly multi-dimensional. The Maitland and District Historical Society looks forward to telling that story in innovative and interesting ways while bringing forward material that is at present not widely known in the community. 

Come with us: we guarantee that you will learn interesting things!