Maitland historian Peter Bogan and society publicity officer and past president Ruth Trappel presented the award to editor Liz Tickner and manager Sue Prescott.

This was the first such award the society had given and would be presented when an individual or organisation was found deserving of it, Mr Bogan said.

“To really know what the Mercury has done for the history of this city, you have to go back through the issues, back through history,” he said.

Mr Bogan said the Mercury was how people knew what was happening around the place before the advent of radio, before television and certainly before the internet.

“It was from the Mercury that a lot of family history is learnt,” he said.

“For instance, my great great-grandfather was on a list of donors to the building of St John the Baptist that was published in the Maitland Mercury in February 1843.

“The society wanted to recognise what the Mercury has done for Maitland over the years, and we thought it was particularly appropriate now with the newspaper’s 170th anniversary approaching.”

The paper was once distributed to the far north of the state and beyond.

“At one time the Mercury had an office in Brisbane; that’s how far the the readership went,” Mr Bogan said.