The ghost of Gloria Green haunts the hallways of the former Maitland Technical College building in High Street.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The secretarial school head teacher died while working in the building and, as the story goes, Ms Green never left.
A crocodile skin was once on display under the building’s cantilevered marble staircase in the 1930s.
The former technical college also housed the West Maitland Technological Museum until the deluge of the 1955 flood washed away and damaged the collection.
Maitland residents who remember the display recall how the “gigantic” crocodile was “stuffed” and if anyone dared touch it a stern attendant in a grey smock would put a stop to it.
Those stories and many like them will be told in a new audio tour to be launched at Maitland Regional Art Gallery early next year.
The $20,000 project, funded by the federal government, will take gallery visitors on a walking tour to discover the history and heritage of the building, constructed in 1909 and used as a technical college until 1987.
A second building behind the original, which is now also part of the art gallery, was constructed in 1911. Among its first classes were those for art students.
“The aim is for visitors to imagine what the building would have been like and to highlight its significance to Maitland and its people,” historian Dr Janis Wilton said.
A narrator’s voice and various images will be heard and seen on a hand-held device using the latest technology in software and apps, directing visitors to various points around the building.
Maitland residents with memories, stories and photographs of the former technical college are encouraged to contact the gallery to contribute to the audio tour.
