The government recently sold the vacant Moree Crown Lands office to Moree Plains Shire Council on behalf of the community for $1.

But Maitland Regional Museum president Janece McDonald said Property NSW quoted the museum $160,000 per annum in June to lease the former lands office on Newcastle Road after it submitted an expression of interest for the building in January.

She said later in June, Property NSW told the museum: “we have completed our internal assessment and as a result this property is surplus to requirements and so will be disposed of by sale on the open market”.

A Property NSW spokesperson said the property was offered to other government agencies before it was declared as surplus.

“The government’s policy is to sell surplus or under-utilised property assets and reinvest the proceeds into infrastructure and better services,” the spokesperson said.

“The government will now consider future opportunities for the site, including whether the property is eligible for purchase by the local council under the Government’s Community Use Policy.”

Ms Aitchison said the building should be handed to the community rather than sold for top dollar.

“If the Berejiklian-Barilaro Government can give the Moree Crown Lands building to that community for one dollar then it can offer the same deal to Maitland and I’ll gladly handover the gold coin donation,” Ms Aitchison said.

“The Berejiklian-Barilaro Government has now set the precedent for giving lands offices back to the community. 

“It would be the worst case of double standards to deny the Maitland community the opportunity to use this historic building for a meaningful purpose.”

The Moree deal takes the 120-year-old building off the government’s auction block and puts it in public hands for the Moree Historical Society to potentially use as a local history museum.

Dr McDonald said the East Maitland lands office was the ideal site for a museum campus incorporating sister groups Maitland and District Historical Society, The Museum of Clothing, Maitland and Beyond Family History and U3A. 

The museum currently operates out of Brough House, but has been on the hunt for permanent space for years.

In the expression of interest for the lands building, Dr McDonald said “despite Maitland’s status as one of the fastest growing LGAs in NSW ... Maitland currently does not have a dedicated museum building”.

“Exhibitions are by necessity “pop up” due to lack of dedicated space for storage, preparation and display,” she wrote.

She also said as a volunteer run organisation, finances were limited and they were not able to pay commercial rates.

Dr McDonald said the museum would contact NSW Finance, Services and Property Minister Victor Dominello and Treasurer Dominic Perrottet to have the property transferred to the museum under the government’s Community Use Policy.