Maitland was founded in 1820 and has a population of around 61,000. As early as 1801, the largest coal deposit in New South Wales was discovered southwest of the city and intensively mined from the middle of the 19th century. Maitland became a coal center and a hub for coal and goods from the Hunter Valley. It was the second largest city in all of Australia until the gold rush and is still one of the largest inland cities in the country today. Today, coal mining has shifted and plays only a minor role, and Maitland is often only seen as an extension of the larger neighboring city of Newcastle.
In the early years Maitland was often hit by large floods that destroyed large parts of the city. In the past 50 years, the city has been spared major floods thanks to appropriate precautionary measures.
