Maitland Regional Museum has tabled a submission to transform the old Maitland Mercury building into a museum. Museum vice-president Helen Hopcroft explains why it would be a huge boon for the city.
On Friday, Maitland Regional Museum lodged a large grant application to buy the old Maitland Mercury building and convert it into a museum space and cultural hub. The building has stood empty for many years, and, if successful, will become a permanent home for not only the museum but a number of the city’s other cultural, heritage and community groups. While it is not the museum’s primary purpose, the ground floor at the rear of the building would be converted into artists’ studios, as a way of keeping creative people and businesses in the CBD.
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This Regional Cultural Fund grant application is potentially a game-changer for Maitland. Not only will the museum offer educationally and socially enriching activities for local families, but it will also bring more cultural tourists to the city. And, as is often noted, cultural tourists stay longer and spend more. Like Renew Newcastle, the initiative that sparked the regeneration of Newcastle’s CBD a decade ago, providing studio space for artists and creative businesses in the CBD can only help the city’s economy. It will certainly offer a connection with the wonderful work being done at Maitland Regional Art Gallery.
Maitland boasts an impressive architectural legacy, yet many of its heritage buildings have stood empty for decades or face uncertain futures. As one of the fastest growing LGAs outside Sydney, and with further population increases forecast, there is an urgent need to balance development with preservation of our built heritage. Lessons can be learned from other areas who have failed to address this delicate balancing act. The choices we make now will have repercussions for years to come.
When it was the Maitland Mercury, the journalists inside the building told the stories of the local community. The newspaper sat on nearly every kitchen table, recorded local milestones big and small and mapped the boom and bust cycle of Central Maitland. As the city begins to rise again, it seems fitting that this building will continue to record the history of Maitland. People tend to think of history as something in the past, but history is happening now.
