The East Maitland–Morpeth railway is a closed branch railway in New South Wales, Australia. Early history St Michael was a seagoing ship that traded between New South Wales and Pacific Islands in the early 1820s. In 1826 some Sydney merchants converted the vessel into a store ship and moored it in the Hunter River at Morpeth. Goods of every description were sold and farm produce stored until taken by other ships to Sydney markets. St Michael was the only such facility at Morpeth for several years. Commencing with the mooring of St. Michael storeship at the head of navigation of the Hunter River at what was then known as Green Hills, Morpeth came into being as a port for vessels of deep draught of those days. The Australasian Steam Navigation Company and the Hunter River New Steam Navigation Company had each established large efficient shed and wharfage accommodation, where cargoes brought in by teams and droghers from the upper navigable reaches of the Hunter and Paterson Rivers were loaded into ocean-going vessels. It should be kept in mind that Newcastle, at this time, had no port facilities for general cargoes, being merely a loading point for small colliers of light draught, while the road between Maitland and Newcastle, as a means of access, was practically impassable. The opening of the first section of railway between Newcastle and East Maitland in 1857 and its subsequent extension further up the Hunter River was watched carefully by the residents of the two Maitlands and the rural properties on the river, resulting in the commencement of an agitation for the construction of a railway linking the Northern line with Morpeth for the more ready handling of the rich local products for shipment to the Sydney and Intercolonial markets. On the 1861 Estimates, before Parliament late in 1860, was a sum of £20,000 for the extension of the Great Northern Railway from Maitland to Morpeth. However, during the debate, the sum was disallowed and for the time being Government building of the line was in abeyance. With this postponement of Government activity in mind, a locally formed company, styled the Maitland and Morpeth Railway Company, presented a Bill to Parliament asking for authority to build a line three-quarters of a mile longer than the proposed Government line, which was to terminate at Queen's Wharf. This proposal also did not receive the necessary Parliamentary sanction but,