Maitland Jewish Cemetery has been named on the State Heritage Register.
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The Louth Park Road site is one of three Jewish cemeteries in NSW.
Along with a burial ground in Goulburn it is one of only two Jewish cemeteries operating in the state.
The heritage register legally protects historically significant sites from threats such as development.
It means the Heritage Council of NSW will have a say on any major works proposed for the site in the future.
Environment and Heritage Minister, and Maitland MP, Robyn Parker announced the site’s heritage listing at a community open day yesterday.
She said it took some time to include sites on the state register because it was important to get the history of a site correct so it could be appropriately recognised before it was named a heritage site.
“On those headstones are stories of families that are a very big part of our Australian story,” she said.
“It is a record of the Jewish community that lived and helped develop the Hunter region.”
Maitland Regional Art Gallery cultural director Joseph Eisenberg and his wife, University of New England professor Janis Wilton, established a project promoting the cemetery in 2007.
The project included art exhibitions and educational installations inspired by the cemetery and won a national award in 2011.
“At the core of that exhibition was trying to understand what was here,” Mr Eisenberg said.
Professor Wilton also wrote a book about the cemetery’s history.
Maitland Jewish Cemetery was established in 1846.
The first burial took place three years later when 11-year-old Jane Cohen died from scarlet fever.
Fifty-three burials took place at the site after that date and 46 headstones remained at the site.
The mayor of Maitland Cr Peter Blackmore said the heritage listing had been a culmination of years of hard work from the cemetery’s supporters.
He said the formation of the advocacy group Friends of the Maitland Jewish Cemetery opened communication lines with state and federal Jewish organisations.
“There has been momentum growing in the community for many years to recognise the importance of this place and we’re proud to show case what has been achieved,” Cr Blackmore said.
