A sign placed by Maitland City Council outside an exhibition that highlights the racist connotations of the High Street 'Jocko Graves' hitching post has been called out by the artist and Mindaribba Local Aboriginal Land Council.
The sign, erected at the behest of mayor Philip Penfold, warns viewers that those who admire the hitching post statue could be offended by the exhibition, and that the council shares this view.
Osvaldo Budet's exhibition, which is part of Maitland Regional Art Gallery's Upriver Downriver, focuses on the Maitland black boy hitching post, informed by his experiences growing up in Puerto Rico, a US territory with a history impacted by slavery, racism and colonialism.
His works re-imagine Maitland memorabilia that depicts the hitching post by removing it, with writing about its racist connotations and his opinions on the statue alongside the works.
Mr Budet said the sign is deeply harmful, and does not align with freedom of expression as the sign says.
He said at one point the council actually removed a piece from his exhibition, a copy of the council's heritage report on the hitching post, without telling him. This has now been replaced.
"The sign is extremely revealing about who they are and I know who they are and I'm not surprised," he said.
"I'm not surprised because they've been trying to white-wash this history of a black boy on top of a cotton bale a slave, an American slave, has nothing to do with Australian history, nothing."
Mr Budet said in his research for the exhibition he found that the Jocko Graves narrative is based on a children's book from the 1960s, not facts.
It's a replica of the faithful groomsman lawn jockey statues seen in the United States, and depicts a boy who, according to the story, froze to death holding tethered horses while George Washington's army crossed the Delaware River in 1776.
"They love that it's a boy, they love that it's quiet, and they love that the story of this black boy is a black boy who obeys the white master and dies frozen," he said.
"They prefer that story to be the highlight of the hitching post instead of acknowledging that this image hurts people of colour."
Mr Budet's works are often political and he doesn't see the role of the artist as neutral, with his exhibition in Upriver Downriver two years ago focusing on the high rate of incarceration of Aboriginal people in Australia.
A mayoral minute on Tuesday, July 21, saw the council resolve to formally note its support for the Jocko Graves hitching post and that it is disappointed in the exhibition.
The motion says the council expresses its high level of disappointment in the decision to exhibit a display at MRAG disparaging the Jocko Graves hitching post in contrast to the council and the majority of the community's support for it.
The motion also notes that the council acknowledge that while art may be thought provoking, council considers this approximate 4000 word display to be primarily a political statement rather than an exhibition of art.
It also notes the council expresses its support for the Jocko Graves hitching post, its continued retention and acknowledges the cultural significance it has to many generations of Maitland residents past and present.
All councillors except Labor councillors Don Ferris, Amelia Atkinson, Race Barstow and Ben Whiting voted for the mayoral minute.
Cr Atkinson, who is a member of the council's culture and community advisory committee and the council representative for the Friends of Maitland Regional Art Gallery, said she is disgusted by the sign.
"I do acknowledge that people feel attached to the hitching post, but I think that time alone doesn't make something like that harmless and we really owe the community the whole story," she said.
"We keep repeating this myth as if it's the history and for me that's problematic, and this exhibition unpacks a lot of that and is important in terms of truth telling."
Cr Atkinson said for the sign to say the council shares the view that the exhibition could cause offence was a bold claim to make.
"There certainly hasn't been any consultation," she said.
"The fact they're reinforcing the myth of this statue in that first sentence, I think to some extent they're trying to erase the truth in that sign."
Mindaribba Local Aboriginal Land Council chief executive Tara Dever said the sign is very disappointing, and that political voices should be allowed in galleries.
"When you're an elected representative you're there for everybody and there is definitely a part of the community here who are not being heard," she said.
"Where is the warning sign at the top of High Street?
"What they're doing is they're perpetuating this children's legend, this enslaved boy who freezes to death because he obeys his white master.
"The land council has a position and of course we care about Aboriginal people in that position, but when we stand up we're standing up for every person of colour that has not got a voice or a safe place to have their voice in this electorate."
Mr Budet consulted with Mindaribba while creating the exhibition.
A Maitland City Council spokesperson said the council acknowledges that the Jocko Graves hitching post evokes different opinions amongst members of our community.
"There is a range of signage installed at the exhibition to acknowledge and address this. The heritage report remains within the exhibition," the spokesperson said.
Mr Budet will deliver a talk on his exhibition at Maitland Regional Art Gallery on Saturday, July 25 at 10.30am, in conversation with Nancy Cushing from the University of Newcastle.
Earlier this week Maitland educator and philosopher Mark Tindall published a book Maitland's Racist Garden Gnome, dismantling common misconceptions about the hitching post's history.
Maitland City Council added the hitching post to Maitland's local heritage list in March 2026 after an independent heritage assessment.
