Having been in this town for more than ten years I’m still appalled by the council’s “band-aid” response to maintenance, as I’ve watched their indifference allow our community assets to fall into such disrepair. The town needs renovating, to bring it up to its past glory, described in 1952 as; “Heart of Yorke Peninsula, Maitland, sets up a throb of rural prosperity which courses along its arteries of roads and penetrates all over the peninsula. Maitland’s story today can only be a success story.-For a town without a water supply, Maitland must rank with the cleanest in Australia. Maitland today exists solely as the commercial shopping, and community Centre of its neighbouring, farmers. All its townsmen are occupied providing these services”; and later “Maitland is one of the few rural districts which does not have difficulty in retaining its young people. It has no drift-to-the-city problem.”
Recovery will only happen if we, the community, express a strong enough desire for things to change. But it won’t, if we only rely on providing services for local farmers. History shows advancing technology has reduced the farmer’s need for the many skills (services) this town once provided, shown by the loss of enterprises like blacksmiths, tinsmiths, saddleries, slaughterers, butchers, printers, tailors, watchmakers and general stores. If we want to move forward from being the “Clayton’s” service town we have become, we have to reimagine what we are, what we want to be, and refocus our energies. For this to happen Council has to reinvest some of OUR rates in this town’s future, and WE have to ensure it happens!
Public Concern
An article in the Yorke Peninsula Country Times, September 4th 2018, reported concerns expressed by a prominent business owner of the town, speaking out about what “Plans [there were] for [a] disgraceful main street”. The article cited mud on the roads and damage to roads, kerbs and footpaths caused by tree roots that were endangering the safety of the elderly. The article noted that two-thirds of council’s rates are raised by ratepayers in Maitland and its surrounds.
Despite posturing by the council CEO in the same article, to date there has been little change to Robert Street other than further closures of facilities such as a cafe, the butchers, clothes shop, IT shop, the BankSA and the ANZ bank. So why is this town being so wilfully neglected and thrust into decline?
Note: Double-click on any picture to enlarge.
Tree T5 raised surround, raised kerb showing cursory repairs, undulating pavers and footpath fouled with detritus. 
Damaged road surface around tree T17 and parking bays in front of the busy bakery. 
Aggressive root damage to kerb and pavers creating a serious tripping hazard at tree T20 next to the Maitland Hotel. 
T10 tree ring lifted above road level by a 100mm diameter root going under footpath searching for water. 
Tree T10 surround three years later, “bodged up” by “Dad’s Army”, Roots mutilated, local kerb replaced and nearby pavers “rejiggled”.
Above is the outcome of project funding in 2018-19 of ‘$38,000 for an engineered design and recommendations on best future management, replacement of tree rings and surrounding areas (with no loss of parking spaces), possible porous paving, soakage drains and additional water catchment’, cited by the CEO in the above article. (Note the T10 references will be clarified in a later post about the Plane trees).
Public records confirm in the Council 2018/19 Annual Business Plan dated 4th June 2018, in a list of all capital projects funded in the 2018/19 budget, a sum of $38,000 was allocated for the renewal/replacement of “Maitland Plane Tree Root Control” (page 30).
The Council later published its Annual-Report 2018/19 and stated in their Business Plan Performance Report for budgeted capital projects (pages 42-43) that the actual expenditure for the year had only been $4,800 with the difference of $32,800 to be carried over to the 2019/20 budget, followed by a number of disclaimers (excuses).
Council’s Annual-Report 2019/20 went on to highlight in the Performance Report for budgeted capital projects (page 47) that the actual expenditure for the following year had only been $6,750 out of the $50,000 budgeted, with no explanation nor reference to the future use of the residual $47,250.
In the background of the picture in the article above is the Bank SA building which is now empty having closed its doors through business rationalisation. There has been a genuine attempt to transform the premises into a different enterprise but Council “red tape” has frustrated its development, as always hiding behind their unclarified interpretations of Building or Planning Regulations.
Maitland Matters
An uneventful stint with the Progress Association revealed its focus to be coordinating the town’s volunteer groups, whilst running the information and Chatt centres, managing The Clydesdale Cottage B&B and producing The Maitland Matters news letter to list but a number of its activities. The Maitland Matters is the community’s main source of local information; it is well produced and presented, having the usual smattering of news clips about local history, sports, nostalgia, advertisements, announcements etc and fulfills this role quite well. But when it comes to grave community concerns relating to council’s indifference, it is silent, reluctant to hold council accountable for its part in the town’s decline. A “good relationship with council” may get a number of small appeasement projects in place, but to achieve the critical upgrades needed by this town the community needs a vocal and assertive advocate to press for a more equitable consideration. Maitland is one of sixty localities served by this council, in turn represented by only four of the twelve councillors, plainly any appeal has to be loud, persistent and resolute to attract attention.
Alternative
Spurred by the foregoing experiences the idea of this newsletter evolved, not to replace what the Maitland Matters does quite effectively, but to inform the community, of what is or isn’t going on around the town, to harp on about the evident neglect. shortfalls, deficiencies, and double standards shown by OUR council and hold them accountable to WE the ratepayers. To leave them with no doubt that we are aware of our rights, and of their obligations to this town, by voicing our expectations. Remember the squeaky wheel does get noticed, and then fixed, especially when dealing with a system based on “Management by Crisis” or to give it some spin “Risk Management”.
So! Let’s see, if together, we can make this newsletter an instrument for change, a mouthpiece for residents to air their dissatisfaction, to stimulate conversation, initiate improvements and arrest the town’s decline.
The Name
Whilst researching this post I discovered on Wikipedia that Maitland had had its own newspaper called the Maitland Watch lasting from 1911 to 1969, at which time it merged with Yorketown’s “The Pioneer”, from 1898 to 1969, after which it became the “Yorke Peninsula News Pictorial”. Not surprisingly this pretentiously titled rag lasted all of 12 months before renaming as the current “Yorke Peninsula Country Times”, which regrettably because of location and demographics tends to focus on Copper Coast issues.
A search of Business Names on the Australian Securities and Investments Commission web site, and Trademarks register verified that Maitland Watch was no longer registered and had been orphaned. So as the name had been abandoned here it is restored with a new home in another format. But with no doubt a similar mission “Keep The Bastards Honest”.
Wikipedia article for Maitland, South Australia
Contact
If you have a story related to your experiences with the YPC that you would like to share with our community please email the contact address shown or if you prefer using FaceBook then post or message on The Maitland Watch Page which can be accessed using the FaceBook button on the side menu.
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Some of the material in these posts has been sourced pursuant to section 41 of the Copyright Act 1968 (the Act) for the purposes of criticism or review; or section 42 of the Act for the purposes of reporting news The contents of the material may be subject to copyright protection under the Act.
The Maitland Watch 