Maitland City Council has been awarded the funding as part of the state government’s Heritage Grants Program.

It will mean conservation works at East Maitland’s Glebe Cemetery and Maitland’s Jewish Cemetery will each receive $40,000, and another $40,000 will be contributed to the Walka Water Works Interpretation Plan.

Council’s Maitland Local Heritage Places Fund will also get a $5000 top-up.

A new fence will be built to protect graves at the Jewish Cemetery and council will use the grant for Glebe Cemetery to identify and fix monuments in need of urgent repair.

The Walka Water Works interpretation plan will explore the potential for schools and visitors to learn more about the heritage and ecology of the site.

Heritage officer Clare James said financial help from the state government was essential for council to be able to recognise historically important projects and conserve them.

She said financial assistance meant council could implement conservation strategies in a knowledgeable and steady way.

“With this particular program, we are dealing with state significant sites, so that collaborative effort is essential,” Ms James said. 

Maitland MP Robyn Parker said the funding would be delivered before the forthcoming election.

“This is funding committed to [council]; it matters not who is in government after March 28,” she said.

“It matters to NSW but, in terms of this funding, it’s delivered, it’s not a promise for an election campaign.”

Ms Parker, a former environment and heritage minister, said heritage was important for the Maitland community.

“The Jewish cemetery, for example, gives us a snapshot of the Jewish community as it was in Maitland, and their stories and contributions they made,” she said.

“The other thing I think is really fantastic about this restoration work is the number of young apprentices we’ve got throughout NSW who are doing sandstone restoration and monument restoration.”