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, in order to provide the title for Msgr William Henry Davis, appointed coadjutor to the archbishop of Sydney, who never visited the diocese. The second bishop, Msgr James Murray, was consecrated in Dublin on 14 Nov. 1865, and the following year went to the diocese and took possession of it on 1 Nov. 1866.
Over the years the diocese underwent various boundary changes; it now includes the valleys of the Hunter and Manning rivers and has an area of 32,000 sq. km., with a population of 230,000 inhabitants, of whom more than 45,000 are Catholics and the remainder 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 charitable, social, and Catholic Action institutions. The Newcastle and M. catholic sentinel is published there.