The ''Maitland Mercury'' is

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

's third oldest regional

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...

, preceded only by the ''

Geelong Advertiser The ''Geelong Advertiser'' is a daily newspaper circulating in Geelong, Victoria, Australia, the Bellarine Peninsula, and surrounding areas. First published on 21 November 1840, the ''Geelong Advertiser'' is the oldest newspaper title in Victor ...

'' (estab. 1840) and the ''

Launceston Examiner ''The Examiner'' is the daily newspaper of the city of Launceston and north-eastern Tasmania, Australia. Overview ''The Examiner'' was first published on 12 March 1842, founded by James Aikenhead. The Reverend John West was instrumental in e ...

'' (estab. 1842). The ''Maitland Mercury'' was established in 1843 when it was called ''The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser''. ''The Maitland Mercury'' is still in circulation serving the city of

Maitland Maitland is an English and Scottish surname. It arrived in Britain after the Norman conquest of 1066. There are two theories about its source. It is either a nickname reference to "bad temper/disposition" (Old French, ''Maltalent''; Anglo Norm ...

and the surrounding Lower

Hunter Valley The Hunter Region, also commonly known as the Hunter Valley, is a region of New South Wales, Australia, extending from approximately to north of Sydney. It contains the Hunter River and its tributaries with highland areas to the north and so ...

. These days the Maitland Mercury has a weekly print edition which appears on Fridays.

History

It was originally a weekly newspaper, founded by Richard Jones, an English migrant from

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

who also served as treasurer of NSW for a brief period. The first issue was published as ''The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser'' on 7 January 1843. It has been a daily since 1894. when it was issued under two banners as ''The Maitland Daily Mercury'' during the week and ''The Maitland Weekly Mercury'' on Saturdays. From 1870 to 1873, Margaret Falls was the proprietor. In 1939 the weekly edition was absorbed into the daily and it became known as ''The Maitland Mercury''. It was issued simply as ''The Mercury'' from 1960 to 1973 when it reverted again to ''The Maitland Mercury''. Even when it was first published ''The Mercury'' was more than just a local newspaper reporting on local issues. It published national and international news, which was critical to the financial survival of the newspaper at the time, and it continues to do so.

Digitisation

The paper has been digitised as part of the

Australian Newspapers Digitisation Program Trove is an Australian online library database owned by the National Library of Australia in which it holds partnerships with source providers National and State Libraries Australia, an aggregator and service which includes full text document ...

of the

National Library of Australia The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...

References

External links

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Maitland Mercury homepage
Newspapers published in New South Wales Maitland, New South Wales Publications established in 1843 1843 establishments in Australia Daily newspapers published in Australia Newspapers on Trove {{australia-newspaper-stub

History

Digitisation

See also

References

External links