Old Maitland

FIRST CIRCUIT COURT
published Newcastle Morning Herald, 17th August, 1929 (Maitland Centenary Edition)

Today is the Centenary of the holding of the first Circuit Court at Maitland. There was no courthouse in the town in that year, 1829, the dining room of Muir's Union Inn being used for the purpose.

The site of the Union Inn was on the western side of Melbourne Street, East Maitland, at its intersection with Newcastle Street. The side of the inn abutted on the Melbourne street alignment, but the front wall stood back from Newcastle street about 60ft. The land on which the inn stood is now occupied by the late Mr. David Ley's pharmacy.

The building of the inn was part of an arrangement made by Mr. Alexander McLeod to build a bridge over Wallis Creek, between the present towns of East and West Maitland, in return for which he was to receive tolls for seven years, keep the bridge in repair, build an inn, and establish a stockyard. The inn was opened on July 6, 1829 by George Muir, who was the contractor for its erection. The "Sydney Gazette" of July 18, 1829, thus refers to the event - "The Union Hotel, Maitland, was an event of great moment to the little band of settlers on the banks of the Hunter. The Judge had arrived from England, in February of the previous year, to take up office as an Assistant Judge to the Chief Justice, Sir Francis Forbes, whom he subsequently succeeded in that high office. Maitland was his first circuit town, and his visit was made to appear as impressive as possible. The story is best told by himself in notes left and recorded by his son, the late District Court Judge J.S. Dowling -

"I left Sydney on Wednesday, the 12th and travelled overland to Mr. McLeod's at Luskintyre, and reached there on the Saturday following. On the Monday, being bewigged and robed, I left Mr. McLeod's in a phaeton belonging to Mr. Winder, accompanied by Mr. Thomas Macquoid, Sheriff, Mr. John Sampson, Solicitor General, and Mr. John Edy Manning, Registrar, and proceeded under an escort of two mounted policemen. Within two miles of the town, we were met by a numerous assemblage of gentlemen on horseback, and were escorted by about 20 mounted policemen, commanded by Captain Philip Aubin. On reaching the Union Inn, at

Maitland, now East Maitland, I read the proclamation an order of the Court, for the holding of a Circuit Court, at Maitland, for the trial of prisoners only."

District Court Judge Dowling, in a reference to his father's story, wrote - "How very English all this sounds, and in some respects how matters are changed. Judges in England, when about to commence the business of the Assize Court, generally did attend Divine service. From my experience in the Colony, I can say no such custom now exists. But I do remember that in the year 1845 or 1846, Rev. G.K. Rusden, the Church of England clergyman at East Maitland, was present on the Bench at the opening of the Circuit Court there, and wore a black silk gown with white bands. It was my father's practice to open the proceedings on circuit by giving an address to those in court. I am sure he did so on the occasion mentioned, though there is no record of it.

I have no doubt that in his address, he pointed out the objects contemplated in establishing Circuit Courts, viz., for the speedy and certain administration of justice in the denunciation of crime, with economy of time and trouble to those for whose benefit the Courts are intended, the familiarisation of the adult and rising generation with the institution of the Mother Country, the promotion of personal intercourse at periodical sessions between the scattered inhabitants of the district remote from the capitol, and the practical teaching of those habits of public business which are necessary for the correct discharge of social obligations. The Court was held in the then only substantial building in the place, the Union Inn, which served the purpose of public worship, the administration of justice, and the refreshment of the wearied traveller. Many of the inhabitants remember the Union Inn, and many racy stories have been told about the people who used to go there. It is some years since it was pulled down.

"If a Circuit Court Judge of the present day were to make an entry in his notebook of his journey fromSydney to Maitland, he would state - "Left Sydney by last evening's train, arrived at midnight, and opened the Court next day, thus recording a marvellous change." In 1829, there was but one craft the cutter, Lord Liverpool, sailing to the Green Hills, now called Morpeth.