In them it commented on the 1840s both fondly and critically, noting what was lacking in the Maitland area in earlier times and highlighting what 'progress' had brought since.

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Here's an item from 1893.

Half a century ago, there is scarcely any need to remark, the Hunter River district was a somewhat different place from what it is now. There were no towns worthy of the name of town, no fine buildings or well-kept streets, no large areas of farm lands smiling with bountiful harvests, or suburban localities thickly dotted with neat and comfortable residences.

Gold was not then discovered, and population was everywhere thin. There were no railways or tramways in the district, and whatever communication was kept up with Sydney was by mail steamers plying two or three times weekly between there and Newcastle and Morpeth, the latter place then better known as the Green Hills. There were fairly good roads between Newcastle, Maitland and the Northern towns, as road then went, but the whole of the traffic from Newcastle to Moreton Bay was chiefly confined to the great Northern road.

Mail coaches and other primitive conveyances were the means by which travellers made their way from place to place; assigned servants were the order of the day; blacks were semi-savage and treacherous; bushranging in full swing, and from the nature of things crime generally rampant.

These were stirring times, if now and again they were troublesome. More excitement and adventure were crammed into a week than is to be found now in a year. Many events of nature interesting or otherwise occurred at this period which the lapse of time has caused to be well nigh forgotten, and the mention of some of these dim recollections will serve to recall vividly to the minds of many of the older generation scenes and sights with which they were once familiar. The old hands - those hardy pioneers who braved innumerable dangers and privations to pave the way for settlement and civilization, who subjugated the forest primeval making it peaceful, productive, and happy looking, and who rendered the lot of life so much easier for those who succeeded them - have one by one been shuffling off this mortal coil . . . .

There were in 1843 "no towns worthy of the name" (yet West Maitland had a population of more than 1700 and East Maitland over 1000, enough for each to be defined as urban centres in the census today), and no "fine buildings" (yet several grand houses had appeared on the rural estates).

The Aborigines were "treacherous" (more accurately they were fighting against the loss of Country), bushranging was in "full swing" and crime "generally rampant", times were "stirring" and at times "troublesome" and "more excitement and adventure were crammed into a week than is now to be found in a year".

The "hardy pioneers" had "subjugated the forest primeval making it peaceful, productive and happy looking".

It might equally be said that they had destroyed a magnificent ecosystem to create a farming economy.

It's all about perception and perspective!

Maitland and District Historical Society