On this page members of the Maitland and District Historical Society are sharing their research into a variety of aspects of the history of our locality. New stories will be added as they become available.
Use search to find stories about the person, place, topic or keyword you are interested in.
Benjamin family and business
Morris and Mary Ann (nee Israel) Benjamin lived and worked in Maitland in the second half of the nineteenth century. The family business, M Benjamin (and Sons), operated from High Street in West Maitland from 1867 to 1899. The Benjamins were members of Maitland’s early Jewish community. Their story highlights aspects of the nature and history of that community.
David Cohen and his siblings
An introduction to David Cohen and his nine siblings. Cohen is the namesake of the lucrative and extremely successful Maitland based company, David Cohen and Company. All but one of the ten siblings, came to Australia. Anchored partly by the family business in Maitland, they had business and family networks that spread across regional NSW, Sydney and to London.
Maitland Mechanics’ Institute
Mechanics’ Institutes were important places of learning in nineteenth century New South Wales. The Maitland area had several such places.
Jocko Graves: Maitland’s ‘Little Black Boy’
The statue of Jocko Graves has adorned Maitland’s High St for a century and a half. It invokes fond memories and has a heroic origin story but has provoked controversy in Maitland recently.
Seventy-five years of piping and drumming in Maitland
The City of Maitland Pipes and Drums has been performing in Maitland and elsewhere since 1948.