Maitland

History

The town was established on the Yorke Peninsula, the traditional lands of the Narungga, an Aboriginal Australian people, who had lived there for thousands of years. Their name for the peninsula is Guuranda, and the Maitland district was Maggiwarda. The town was named in 1872 after Lady Jean Maitland, the wife of James Fergusson, Lord Kilkerran and great-great grandmother of the governor of South Australia at that time, Sir James Fergusson. In October 1884 the Adelaide Observer noted: Maitland in situated about twenty-three miles from Moonta, on Yorke's Peninsula, and is about equidistant between the two Gulfs. The town stands about 490 feet above the sea, and is surrounded by some of the richest soil on the Peninsula. The township is only about nine years old, and has made steady progress, and bids fair to be the next largest town to Moonta on the Peninsula. Agriculture was developed on lands formerly used as hunting grounds for the Narungga people, and they were employed in agricultural work from where they were moved to at Point Pearce (Burgiyana) mission. }}

Most-observed species

• Banjo Shark

  Trygonorrhina dumerilii (Castelnau, 1873) · Elasmobranchii
  24
• Pacific Gull

  Larus pacificus Latham, 1801 · Aves
  20
• Silver Gull

  Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae (Stephens, 1826) · Aves
  20
• Singing Honeyeater

  Gavicalis virescens (Vieillot, 1817) · Aves
  19
• Red Wattlebird

  Anthochaera carunculata (Shaw, 1790) · Aves
  18
• Willie-wagtail

  Rhipidura leucophrys (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  18
• Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater

  Acanthagenys rufogularis Gould, 1838 · Aves
  15
• Crested Pigeon

  Ocyphaps lophotes (Temminck, 1822) · Aves
  15

Most recent

• M 3.4 — 2006-07-17
  55 km S of Cowell, Australia
• M 2.9 — 2003-05-02
  26 km ENE of Kadina, Australia