Our past in the Maitland Mercury
In February 2020 the Maitland and District Historical Society in collaboration with the Maitland Mercury began a weekly column titled ‘Our Past’. The aim is to reacquaint readers by looking back at where we’ve been; to ramble along the Riverside Walk and read our Indigenous history; to glance at the flood mitigation billboard and understand why there are levees at all; to look across at Lorn, close one’s eyes and imagine the impenetrable rainforest and the cedar forest beyond.
These pieces in the Mercury, written by members and associates of the Maitland and District Historical Society, cover many themes including those relating to the environment of the area, the ancient presence of its Aboriginal people and the evolution of the community since European settlement early in the nineteenth century.
The aim of the Mercury articles is also to add to the contributions of past historians of Maitland. Our locality has been most fortunate that in addition to the wonderful resource of the Maitland Mercury itself, continuous since 1843, it has spawned many dedicated and resourceful local historians. Amongst the most important is the venerable Hunter historian W Allan Wood, whose Dawn in the Valley is the foundation history of the region. John Turner, Harry Boyle (who for a time wrote a weekly historical column for the Mercury), Cynthia Hunter, Andy Burg, Peter Bogan and others were contemporaries of Wood or followed in his footsteps. Collectively these people have left a legacy of research that documents Maitland’s past and brings it alive for those who are interested today.
The series is not presented in any chronological or other order. It jumps from theme to theme and topic to topic as authors are able to provide them.
The contributors are members of the Maitland and District Historical Society.
Updated and often expanded versions of some of these articles are available on this website.
To browse the work of Maitland’s local historians, visit resources.
References
Kevin Short, ‘ Our Past: Maitland was a town of great wealth and importance’, Maitland Mercury, 24 February 2020.
