About Maitland

The Essentials of Life

The cornerstone of any community is its range of community services and facilities. Maitland has an excellent standard of health services, schools, residential housing and retail shopping centres, all of which are there to make sure your life after work runs as smoothly as possible.

Hospitals and Health Care

Maitland's Health Services include the Maitland Hospital, Maitland Private Hospital, the Lower Hunter Community Health Care centre, five aged care facilities, two Baby Health Centres and one Family Care Cottage.

The city has over 150 hospital beds, plus 867 Child Care early learning places. There are a wealth of community services available, including neighbourhood centres and family support centres.

Home and Community Care (HACC) Services play an important role in Maitland in assisting the frail, the aged and young disabled people. HACC services and facilities include home maintenance, respite care, Senior Citizens centre and Home Care.

Schools

Maitland has twenty eight Primary Schools and five High Schools, including the Hunter Valley Grammar School. There are also numerous Pre-school and Day Care facilities available.

Excellent Retail Shopping

As you would expect of a major rural city centre, Maitland boasts the full range of local, national and international retail outlets. The two main shopping districts - the Heritage Mall in Maitland Centre and Stockland Green Hills (Australia's best performing sub-regional shopping centre) - offer a highly diverse selection of speciality and department stores.

Huge investment in retail developments in the west of the City at Rutherford are creating a new shopping precinct without parallel in the Lower Hunter.  With at least three supermarkets, a large number of specialty outlets and a series of major bulky goods retail outlets, Rutherford will fast become a retail destination of choice in our region.

Training Facilities

Maitland has training facilities that you would normally only expect to find in capital cities. These include short course vocational training schools to international standard Phd studies. The Hunter Institute of Technology has a campus in Maitland, as does the privately owned Hunter Valley Training Company (Australia's largest group trainer). These facilities provide excellent training in all fields, especially building and construction, engineering, mining, tourism and business administration.

A new technical college is being developed within the City.

A Region Rich in Natural Assets

Maitland is a city of natural beauty and wide open spaces, of clean air and national parks, of impressive gardens and sweeping views. It is a region well known for its attractive rural district, historic city centre and moderate climate.

Maitland has more than three times the national average of open city spaces, with 30% of the region dedicated to outdoor sports facilities and 22% established as small parks and playgrounds. The city normally receives around 722 millimetres of rain a year, falling on an average of 111 days.

Maitland City Council works hard to ensure that this city will always be a remarkably beautiful place to live. Its policy of urban development has been carefully formulated as an environment management plan, and this work has established a highly respected system of infrastructure, waste collection and park and street maintenance.

So Much so Close

Living in Maitland is like living in the centre of paradise. Some of the state's most admired and popular attractions are all within 30 minutes drive, including the wild and lush bushlands of the Barrington Tops National Parks, the wine and food delights of the Hunter Valley vineyards, plus the splendour of the wide white beaches of Newcastle and Nelson Bay.

Sports and Recreation

There's not much you can't do in Maitland. Whether you enjoy the outdoor sports of golf, tennis, swimming, bushwalking or the more leisurely pursuits of picnicking, gardening and arts or crafts, its all here. Maitland has a number of privately owned and operated recreational facilities, including the Taylor Tennis Academy and the Greenhills Sport and Leisure centre. There's even an annual agricultural show that draws visitors from all over the country.

Heritage and Culture

A spectacular heritage city, Maitland and its surrounding villages has retained all of its unique ageing character. History surrounds you during Maitland's Heritage Month Celebrations. Maitland once rivalled Sydney as the proposed capital City of the State of NSW. Morpeth is one of the most picturesque historic villages in Australia. Heritage comes alive in the streets that launched Arnotts Biscuits, Soul Pattinson and Brambles Transport.

For the culturally minded, Maitland's Regional Art Gallery is located in the historic former Technical College building in High Street, and it is widely acclaimed for the standard of its exhibits whilst the Maitland City Library plus three other branch libraries provide residents with a complete library service.

Numerous theatre and musical groups and venues add colour and excitement to our City's cultural calendar.

 Source: Maitland City Council Website