Maude Mary Haydon (1886 – 1978) was an Australian pastoral and landscape artist.
Maude Mary Haydon (1886 – 1978) was an Australian pastoral and landscape artist.
Maude Mary Haydon was born at 'Bloomfield' homestead near Murrurundi, New South Wales on 6 November 1886. [1] She was raised a middle child in a pastoral family of 6 on Bloomfield station, but was handicapped by deafness. Maude Haydon was a good horsewoman who rode from an early age under the watchful eye of her father Bernard Haydon [2] a renowned horseman and master of Bloomfield. She developed and maintained a keen interest in the sport of horse racing for the rest of her life. Maude Haydon held strong Christian beliefs all her life and attended St Lukes Anglican church, Blandford, and often decorated it with flowers from her garden at Bloomfield. She finished her education at 17 years of age at SCEGGS, [3] Darlinghurst, Sydney, where she showed a talent for art. [4]
Maude Haydon was trained by English art teacher Julian Ashton at his renowned Art School in Sydney in the 1900s. [4] She caused a moral scandal when she took a group of Bohemian art students camping in the mountains on H.L. White's Belltrees station at Woolooma near Scone. There they climbed 900 metres above the landscape to the top of Mt Woolooma. Maude Haydon produced large numbers of watercolour impressionist style works, depicting scenes of Bloomfield and the landscapes of the Upper Hunter district over many years. [4] She contributed works to the Women Artists exhibition in Sydney in 1934. [5] Maude Haydon frequently gave her paintings away to family and friends [4] and they formed a tangible and evocative bond with Bloomfield. She also donated them to assist in fundraising. [6]
Maude Haydon travelled at 27 years of age with her sister Madge Haydon, on a steamship to Europe to obtain specialist medical treatment for deafness in Vienna, Austria in 1914, but unfortunately World War I (WWI) interrupted the plan. [4] However the sisters were adventurous and they turned disappointment into a holiday and saw the sights. Maude Haydon and her sister visited Victorian portrait artist Agnes Goodsir and her brother, banker and friend of Bernard Haydon, Noel Goodsir in Maida Vale, London, England. They all climbed 1,300 metres above the landscape to the top of snow-covered Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in Great Britain. Maude Haydon later donated £5 to Agnes Goodsir for the care of wounded WWI soldiers recovering in her home. [4] The sisters also visited Hayden relatives in Ireland, who took the ladies riding on a fox hunt. [4]
Maude Haydon was a good friend of Noel Goodsir's son Norman, and they maintained a correspondence during his chaotic and violent WWI service in the Australian Imperial Forces Artillery in France. [4] He was tragically murdered in London in 1919 [7] and she never married. Maude Haydon spent her life living and working at Bloomfield homestead with the Haydon family. [4] She maintained close relations with most of its many members, and was a prolific correspondent who kept them informed of the news of the family. [4] After the death of her father in 1932, she arranged Christmas gatherings at Bloomfield that was attended by a crowd of family and friends from at least 2 States for over 40 years. During WWII she hosted soldiers wives and children of the Upper Hunter to a wonderful Christmas dinner party. [8]
Maude Haydon was a prominent social identity of the Upper Hunter. She was a bright personality, who was an excellent communicator despite her deafness and was very generous. She used to drive a cart pulled by 'Jolly' the horse around the district, delivering mail until the 1950s. After her mother died in 1942, she became the mistress of Bloomfield homestead and continued to keep an open door house. Maude Haydon would collect guests from the Blandford Railway Station in a horse and sulky and later in a car, for over 50 years.
Maude Haydon died at 91 years of age on 9 January 1978 and was buried in Murrurundi Cemetery.
Maitland is a city in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales, Australia and the seat of Maitland City Council, situated on the Hunter River approximately 166 kilometres (103 mi) by road north of Sydney and 35 km (22 mi) north-west of Newcastle. It is on the New England Highway approximately 17 km (11 mi) from its origin at Hexham.
The Hunter River is a major river in New South Wales, Australia. The Hunter River rises in the Liverpool Range and flows generally south and then east, reaching the Tasman Sea at Newcastle, the second largest city in New South Wales and a major harbour port. Its lower reaches form an open and trained mature wave dominated barrier estuary.
Branxton is a town in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia. Branxton is 171 kilometres (106 mi) north of Sydney via the Sydney–Newcastle Freeway and New England Highway. Branxton is located mostly in the City of Cessnock, but part of it is in Singleton Shire.
Murrurundi( MURR-oo-RUN-dye), is a rural town located in the Upper Hunter Shire, in the Upper Hunter region of New South Wales, Australia.
The Main North Line is a major railway in New South Wales, Australia. It runs through Strathfield to Armidale. The line is the main line between Sydney and Armidale. As of 1988, the line closed progressively north of Armidale with services gradually withdrawn till 2004, with the main route between Sydney and Brisbane now the North Coast line.
Ben Hall was an Australian bushranger and leading member of the Gardiner–Hall gang. He and his associates carried out many raids across New South Wales, from Bathurst to Forbes, south to Gundagai and east to Goulburn. Unlike many bushrangers of the era, Hall was not directly responsible for any deaths, although several of his associates were. He was shot dead by police in May 1865 at Goobang Creek. The police claimed that they were acting under the protection of the Felons Apprehension Act 1865, which allowed any bushranger who had been specifically named under the terms of the Act to be shot, and killed by any person at any time without warning. At the time of Hall's death, the Act had not yet come into force, resulting in controversy over the legality of his killing.
Nancy Keesing was an Australian poet, writer, editor and promoter of Australian literature.
Lochinvar is a village in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia, eleven kilometres west of the regional centre of Maitland. Lochinvar is within the boundaries of the City of Maitland local government area and is named after Lochinvar, a loch in southern Scotland.
Henry Luke White was a wealthy grazier, and a keen philatelist, book collector, amateur ornithologist and oölogist of Scone, New South Wales, Australia.
Thornton is a suburb in the City of Maitland, New South Wales, Australia. It is bisected by the New England Highway.
Sir Joseph Palmer Abbott, was an Australian politician, pastoralist and solicitor.
Hanna Kay is an Australian artist.
Somerton is a village between Tamworth and Gunnedah on the Oxley Highway in northern New South Wales Australia. In the 2016 census, there were 277 people in Somerton. Somerton Village adjoins the plentiful Peel River.
Robyn Mary Parker, is a former Australian politician, and was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Maitland for the Liberal Party from 2011 to 2015 and was previously a member of the Legislative Council of New South Wales between 2003 and 2011. Parker was the New South Wales Minister for the Environment and the Minister for Heritage in the O'Farrell government from 2011 until April 2014. Parker was succeeded by Rob Stokes in the Baird cabinet.
Largs is a developing township adjacent to Bolwarra Heights and is a suburb in the City of Maitland in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia. It is located on the eastern side of the Hunter River, 6 km north of the Maitland CBD. As of 2018, the Maitland LGA is seeing new development along elevated areas adjacent to the river flood plain. Maitland is an established city. Schools and all normal community facilities are available. The City of Maitland covers an area of 390 square kilometres.
John Norton Oxley was an Australian farmer and politician. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for one term between 1856 and 1857.
Freda Rhoda Robertshaw (1916–1997) was an Australian artist and painter of neoclassical figures and landscapes. Her works are represented in major Australian public galleries, and her Standing Nude (1944) was considered a key attraction at a 2001 exhibition of Modern Australian Women at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
Sir Robert Wisdom, was a politician in colonial New South Wales and Attorney General of New South Wales.
Portia Swanston Geach was an Australian artist and feminist. She was a founder and a president of the New South Wales Housewives' Association, as well as a president of the Federal Association of Australian Housewives. The Portia Geach Memorial Award, established by a legacy from Geach's sister, is Australia's most significant prize for Australian female portrait artists.
Wilson Memorial Community Hospital located in Murrurundi, New South Wales, was designed by architect George McRae and completed in 1919. It is now proposed to be demolished to make way for a new hospital. Community groups have been fighting to get the hospital heritage listed.