Woodville, New South Wales

Woodville is a very small township in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia that is shared between the Port Stephens and Maitland local government areas (LGA). Most of the town lies to the east of the Paterson River in the Port Stephens LGA while a small area of approximately 1.3km2, to the west of the Paterson, is within the boundaries of the Maitland LGA.Land useWoodville's primary land use is agricultural, although housing and small-acre rural residential lots are increasingly significant. Its agriculture consists mainly of broad-acre hay production, along with beef cattle grazing, turf-farming, poultry and olive production. It sits on the floodplains of the lower Hunter River and is subject to periodic flooding.TownshipThe town's centre consists of only a few buildings: an old timber shop, a few houses of mixed age and design, All Saints sandstone gothic style church - it is now privately owned and although no longer used for religious services, this heritage listed chapel is non-denominational and available for weddings both civil and religious, the timber hall associated with the church is now a function centre.HistoryThe Woodville region was occupied originally by Aboriginals, most likely the Worimi people. It offered abundant natural resources, with rivers, extensive wetlands, lakes, open woodland and rainforest. In the early 19th century, the first Europeans known to enter the region were timber-getters seeking to exploit the extensive red cedar trees that grew on and near the banks of the Paterson and Hunter rivers. Felled trees were floated down-river to timber mills in Newcastle.