He's just finished his first, and "only" novel, A Great Day for the Race - a fictional meets historical retelling of his own family.

The novel, which Mr Gibb acknowledges is based largely on fact, showcases the colourful life led by his ancestor William Gibb, who, let's just say, was well known to the law.

"It's basically his story. He was a little bit of a wheeler-dealer and got up to all sorts of involvement in horse racing and cricket in the early stages of Maitland," he said.

He arrived in Australia in 1839 as he was exiled from Europe for theft and fraud. He then found his way to Patrick's Plains, now known as Singleton, from there he ended up raising his family in Maitland.

"He was a real character and that was the source of the story," Mr Gibb said.

It took more than a decade of research but the result saw Mr Gibb not only writing a book which shared the history of his convict ancestor but also documented the social history of Maitland at the time. "I have a love for local history and my kids are sixth-generation Maitland. We've been here forever and that was the motivation for wanting to know more," he said.

After sifting through hundreds of articles relating to his ancestor, it was then he realised a real story could emerge. Mr Gibb claims he became more "fascinated" when he also found that William Gibb was involved in a famous case dating back to the 1860s of stolen racehorses.

There was young female trainer, which Mr Gibb notes was a "complete rarity at the time". She traded racehorses for money and then claimed them back.

This formed the latter part of the book where he tells the interesting tale of his ancestor being charged with racehorse theft, which he was later exonerated from as he was taking ownership of those horses for his master.

"I got a large kick out of it", talking about his numerous hours poring over the Maitland Mercury archives from the 1850s to 1870s, where he sourced most of his information from, along with the findings from Trove, an Australian online research portal.

He hopes that this story will allow the people of Maitland to get a glimpse inside the social history at the time and encourages fellow Maitlanders and history buffs alike who have a vast knowledge of the local history to have their input by contacting him via email anthony@anthonygibb.com.

A Great Day for the Race is for sale at local stockists, Harry Hartog Greenhills and McDonalds Booksellers Maitland, and at anthonygibb.com for $35 RRP.