Flood sign

Production date
1955
 About this object
In 1982 the NSW Public Works Department erected more than one hundred flood markers on power poles in different parts of Maitland. As flood expert Chas Keys explains:
"These markers indicated the levels which had been reached in the flood of 1955: they were installed using the detailed maps compiled immediately after the flood and were probably accurate to within 150 millimetres."
Keys also observes that many of the signs have disappeared due to the replacement of power poles, ‘souvenir hunters’ and property owners and sellers concerned that flood reminders near their properties could be a disincentive for buyers. In 2015 the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment installed further signs from the original set for the flood sixtieth anniversary of the flood that year. The sign in the Maitland Library Collection is one of these flood signs.
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Object detail

Significance
The 1955 flood sign in the Maitland City Library collection is a symbol and marker of the central role of flooding in the history of Maitland and, in particular, of the disastrous 1955 flood. It is also representative of efforts to mitigate the effects of flooding in the locality and to alert residents and others to the reality and impact of floods and the need to be prepared. As one of over 100 such signs that were originally installed across Maitland, it invites linking to the locations and heights of those signs as indicators of the varying depth flood waters reached in 1955. It also sits as a very evocative and tangible item among the many photographs, studies and other artefacts that document the nature and impact of the 1955 flood, and that link that flood to the ongoing history of flooding in the Hunter Valley. It is clearly provenanced to the NSW Department of Public Works and the Department’s installation of signs in the locality. It is in fair condition.

Statement of Significance completed by Janis Wilton, 2022
Related information
Read more about this item here
Collection type
Maitland Libraries
Media
Coated metal
Measurements
20.2 x 30.3cm
Accession number
LIB2022.042

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