On Friday, the committee submitted a proposal for a $1.5 million grant from the state government’s regional cultural fund to purchase the iconic Maitland Mercury building, and refurbish it into a museum and cultural hub. 

Committee member Helen Hopcroft said the group had previously lodged an expression of interest for the Lands Department at East Maitland, but the plans fell through. 

“We knew the Maitland Mercury building had been vacant for six years. It’s an astonishing piece of architecture, which already does kind of look like a museum,” Ms Hopcroft said. 

“We knew it was a very well-built structure because apparently the rear of the building had to be overbuilt to compensate the vibrations of the printing presses.

“It’s part of what Maitland City Council has designated as a cultural precinct so it seems like a natural home for a museum.”

The historic building, located on High Street, has a rich history with the daily newspaper produced at the site for 170 years.

It was vacated by the newspaper in 2012, and bought by developers who planned to convert the site into apartments and commercial space – but the building remains untouched. 

“We want to bring the world to Maitland,” Ms Hopcroft said.

“We are getting letters from a diverse range of groups including poets, politicians on all levels of government, community groups and cultural groups. 

“It’s been astonishing to see the number of people who are actually interested in having a museum in Maitland, and actually consider it a good site. It’s actually quite heartening,” Ms Hopcroft said.

The museum currently rents a room out of Brough House on Church Street, which is shared with several other community groups including the Hunter Spinners and Weavers. 

But Ms Hopcroft said the museum had a vision to expand. 

”We want to be able to do bigger and better things including bringing travelling exhibitions to Maitland,” she said.

“We have insufficient storage so we can’t build up a museum collection of artefects from this area because we simply don’t have anywhere to put them. And we also don’t have the space to exhibit. 

“We really need to be able to grow, and the best way to do that is to establish a museum space in our own building.”

The committee also hope to open the space to other cultural groups and artists in the city.

The state government is expected to announce the successful applicants by the end of this year.