Maitland, New South Wales
The present city was proclaimed in 1945 with the amalgamation of the three local government areas. The city's boundaries have been increased by incorporating parts of other local government areas since then (most notably Kearsley Shire which from 1946 to 1949 was the only local government area in Australia's history to have a Communist majority of councillors).
Maitland Volcano
Maitland's volcanic history is poorly known since only isolated remnants of the volcano remain. What is known, however, is that it formed during a pulse of NCVP magmatism that began with the eruption of Edziza about seven million years ago. The eruption rate of this period was much greater than what is observed for the Northern Cordilleran Volcanic Province today. Following the onset of activity at Edziza, Maitland volcanism commenced 5.2 million years ago with the outpouring of alkali basalt and hawaiite lava on a broad, late Tertiary, low-relief surface. This resulted in the creation of a broad shield volcano. Subsequent volcanic activity created a complex edifice of trachyte and trachybasalt that formerly overlain the central part of the basaltic shield. Magmatism at Maitland continued until about 4.6 million years ago when the volcano went extinct.