The Maitland Mercury’s headquarters has returned to the city centre to be part of the growing buzz in Central Maitland.
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The Mercury crew packed up the 555 High Street office last week, after almost five years at the edge of the central business district.
Excitement has been gathering momentum among staff in recent weeks, after Fairfax Media confirmed the Mercury – one of Australia’s oldest mastheads – would make the most of the new life being breathed into The Levee precinct.
It comes after staff relocated from the Mercury’s longest-serving office – the grand old building near Maitland Town Hall – in 2012, after more than a century.
The move marks the beginning of a new chapter for a publication that has been around long enough to report on every federal election in Australia’s history and pre-dated the first state election by almost 50 years.
In fact, the Mercury pre-dates the Melbourne Cup, Australian Rules Football, the gold rush and the Kelly Gang.
The only regional mastheads older in Australia are the Geelong Advertiser and the Launceston Examiner.
The publication – then known as the Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser – printed its first edition on January 7, 1843, from a small office on the corner of High Street and Bulwer Street.
Proprietors Richard Jones and Thomas William Tucker ran the newspaper from this site for only four years, before moving to the now well-known building on the corner of Hunter Street and High Street, part of the city’s civic precinct that came to be affectionately known as Mercury Corner.
Daily editions of the Mercury were printed between 1894 and 2016, when it became a tri-weekly print publication with a 24-7 online presence.
The latest move not only shows that Fairfax has confidence in the future of Central Maitland, as a key hub in the Hunter, but also the future of the Mercury, which is responsible for feeling the pulse of this great city.
And the new office, on Elgin Street next to ANZ, has its own place in Maitland’s history, being the location of the old Savoy picture theatre.
It will be open during business hours from Monday and all contact numbers and email addresses will remain the same – 4931 0100.
So, if you’ve got a news tip or a story to tell, drop in or give us a call.
