ALTHOUGH it was first surveyed as a village by surveyor Herborn in 1864, Gladstone as it is today has only been known by that name since 1870.
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150 years ago, the citizens of the village on the banks of Darkwater Creek petitioned the visiting Governor of NSW, the Earl of Belmore, to allow a change of name from Darkwater Creek to Belmore River. They also asked that the Governor's wife's maiden name, Gladstone, should be given to the then unnamed village.
The Governor, flattered at the request, put the proposal to the Executive Council on his return to Sydney and both Gladstone and Belmore River were so named.
Around 30 years earlier, the rich alluvial flats of the lower Macleay were covered in dense scrub with giant trees, including cedar.
Just north of the site of Gladstone, John Verge took up a grant of 2560 acres in 1838 and employed tenants on clearing leases to prepare the virgin brush for cultivation. The first land sales on Darkwater Creek took place in 1860 and land clearing was followed by the planting of maize crops.
The Aborigines of the Lower Macleay were displaced onto reserves on Fattorini, Shark and Pelican Islands and were finally moved away from the area altogether to Burnt Bridge.
The river trade necessary for the passage of crops, livestock and timber to markets, passengers to and from cities in the south, and the supply of goods led to wharves being established between Kempsey and Trial Bay.
Villages grew around these wharves including Gladstone, which at its peak had three general stores, a chemist, two doctors, a dentist, saddler, two blacksmiths, two hotels, school, three churches, a police station and court house.
A sugar mill was established just to the north of the Macleay River and Darkwater Creek and for a time an industry looked like it would prosper.
The mill however ran at a loss for several years with crops badly damaged by frosts, and in 1873 the mill was moved to Harwood on the Clarence River.
The first hotel in Gladstone was the Foresters Arms which opened in 1870 - the licensee being Silas Pitman. This was followed by the Gladstone Inn in 1873 (also initially known as the East Kempsey Hotel) and Tattersalls Hotel in 1877.
Today, the Heritage Hotel of Gladstone stands on the original site of the Gladstone Hotel but the other two establishments are long gone.
The first church opened was the Wesleyan chapel in 1864. The Uniting Church (formerly Methodist) was built in 1921 on the site of an earlier building of 1885. It was built in the year of a disastrous flood and was funded by parishioners, who gave generously during a time of hardship.
A few years later in 1927, St Barnabas Anglican Church was built, also in the same Gothic revival style of the era.
A court of petty sessions was established in Gladstone in 1869 and proceedings were probably held in the former timber police station (long since demolished).
Plans and specifications for a court house were drawn up by colonial architect, James Barnett, and the present building completed in October 1885. Court sittings were held until 1970 with the building later integrated into the Police Station.
June 15, 1973, was a momentous occasion for Gladstone and its twin town Smithtown, on the opposite side of the Macleay, when a new bridge was opened, ending a century of river ferry service between the two.
Gladstone is one of the few river towns which is still largely intact and it is closely linked with the development of the Macleay Valley.
Its buildings are representative of a once busy river port, an era which ended with the 1949 and 1950 floods.
