Maitland, South Australia should not be confused with Maitland, New South Wales.
| Type: | town |
| Maitland | |
| State: | sa |
| Use Lga Map: | yes |
| Coordinates: | -34.3667°N 137.6667°W |
| Established: | 1872 |
| Established Footnotes: | [1] |
| Postcode: | 5573 |
| Elevation: | 160 |
| Dist1: | 168 |
| Dir1: | west |
| Location1: | Adelaide |
| Dist2: | 164 |
| Dir2: | south |
| Location2: | Port Pirie |
| Dist3: | 50 |
| Dir3: | south |
| Location3: | Kadina |
| Dist4: | 46 |
| Dir4: | north |
| Location4: | Minlaton |
| Lga: | Yorke Peninsula Council |
| Region: | Yorke and Mid North[2] |
| County: | Fergusson |
| Stategov: | Narungga[3] |
| Fedgov: | Grey |
| Maxtemp: | 22.5 |
| Mintemp: | 11.7 |
| Rainfall: | 482.5 |
| Near-N: | Weetulta Arthurton |
| Near-Ne: | Arthurton Winulta |
| Near-E: | Winulta Petersville |
| Near-Se: | Cunningham |
| Near-S: | South Kilkerran Yorke Valley Cunningham |
| Near-Sw: | Point Pearce |
| Near-W: | Balgowan |
| Near: | Maitland |
| Footnotes: | Adjoining localities |
Maitland is a town on the Yorke Peninsula in South Australia. By road, it is west of Adelaide, south of Port Pirie and north of Minlaton. The town lies in the traditional lands of the Narungga, whose name for the district is Maggiwarda.
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.[4] [5]
The town was named in 1872 after Lady Jean Maitland[6] (died 1766), the wife of the 2nd Lord of Kilkerran, Sir James Fergusson (1688-1759) and great-great grandmother of the governor of South Australia at that time, Sir James Fergusson (1832–1907).[7]
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.[8]
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.[4]
Maitland is within a short driving distance of coastal towns on either side, with Port Victoria to the west and Ardrossan to the east, each within 25 km. It has a grain receiving depot operated by AWB Limited, serviced only by road.[9]
Maitland has a hot-summer mediterranean climate (Köppen: Csa), with very warm, dry summers and mild, wetter winters. Temperatures vary throughout the year, with average maxima ranging from in January to in July, and average minima fluctuating between in February and in July. Annual precipitation is moderately low, averaging 502.5mm, with a maximum in winter. There are 109.8 precipitation days, 95.8 clear days and 133.4 cloudy days annually. Extreme temperatures have ranged from on 24 January 2019 to on 29 June 1958 and 9 July 1959.[10]
Maitland was home to a newspaper called the Maitland Watch (22 December 1911 – 26 June 1969). In 1969, the newspaper merged with Yorketown's the Pioneer (1898–1969) to become the short-lived Yorke Peninsula News Pictorial (3 July 1969 – 28 May 1970), which was then incorporated into the Yorke Peninsula Country Times from June 1970.[11]