MAITLAND, DIOCESE OF. — In the eastern part of the State of New South Wales (Australia), erected on 25 June 1874, as a suffragan of Sydney. The erection was almost fictitious, intended merely to confer the title on Mgr William Henry Davis, appointed coadjutor to the Archbishop of Sydney, who never visited the diocese. The second bishop, Mgr James Murray, was consecrated in Dublin on 14 November 1865 and the following year went to the diocese, taking possession on 1 November 1866.
Over the years the diocese has undergone various boundary changes; it now comprises the valleys of the Hunter and Manning rivers and has an area of 32,000 sq. km. with a population of 230,000, of whom more than 45,000 are Catholics and the rest Protestants. There are 36 parishes and 60 churches, served by 82 diocesan priests and 21 religious, assisted by 44 religious communities. It has 66 schools and various social welfare and Catholic Action institutions. The *Newcastle and Maitland Catholic Sentinel* is published there.