Maitland historian Lance Murray is outraged that land surrounding the city’s first burial ground off Wallis Street, East Maitland is earmarked for housing.
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The burial ground features in written accounts of Maitland’s earliest days of European settlement and holds equal importance to Aboriginal history.
Maitland City Council has acknowledged a potential Aboriginal archeological deposit outside its planning proposal for 40 lots but Mr Murray said any development around the site would be detrimental.
“To me it’s the most important thing we have left and they want to put houses on it,” Mr Murray said.
“It’s not only important to Aboriginals it’s a natural treasure.”
Houses are planned for either side of the burial ground which forms part of a gully leading down to Wallis Creek which was the Maitland (now East Maitland) landing spot for boats.
Governor Macquarie referred to the “burying ground” in a diary entry dated July 29, 1818, on an expedition out of Newcastle with Captain Wallis – after whom Macquarie later named the creek.
At 6pm on July 30 Macquarie and a small group of men landed at the burying ground, made fires and camped overnight.
Earlier that day he observed cleared land he had earlier permitted six well-behaved convicts and two free men to farm.
Just below the burial ground Macquarie noted a cedar camp, near where Trappaud Road now crosses Wallis Creek, and that 15 men were kept under guard there to cut timber for the government.
Macquarie returned three years later and stayed at a government house, erected between the burial ground and the cedar camp, which has since been demolished.
This land overlooks the proposed 40 lots.
Bungaree, an Aboriginal leader from Broken Bay who rose to prominence as a guide and interpreter to explorer Matthew Flinders, entertained Macquarie that night with a corroboree.
Mr Murray, an Aboriginal elder belonging to a Clarence Valley tribe, was troubled that council’s planning proposal for homes off Wallis Street did not confirm the presence of any indigenous artefacts.
He was certain it was an Aboriginal burial ground, part of an overland trade route, marked on early European maps, and wagered that Bungaree would have known the site’s importance.
“This site is Maitland’s last piece of land that relates to our Aboriginal, convict and immigrant identity all in the one place,” Mr Murray said.
Submissions to the planning process close tomorrow.
