A man with an eye for passing trade, Mr John Selfe built the Imperial Hotel on what was to become Wee Waa’s main road. The 40-room hotel had already changed hands a few times and was leased by Mr W. Maher when a fire consumed the street on Valentine’s Day in 1912. The blaze started […]
Was it unbridled civic pride or simple commercial interest that inspired local dentist Wally Harkins to write and compile this ‘With Compliments’ booklet about West Maitland in 1922? What was in it for him? Providing an historical overview and singing the praises of Maitland and its surrounding district, the booklet includes photographs, descriptions, and brief […]
Computers, tablets and smart phones might be helpful, but many would agree there’s still nothing like scribbling down your thoughts using a pen and paper. In December 1872, when Maitland Mercury newspaper employee John Thompson ( – 1902) first opened this diary, he seems to have been thinking of using it in the coming year […]
At 6.50pm on a Tuesday evening in May, 1931, Henry Bewes, a track interlocking inspector on the South Maitland Railways was found lying between the lines near the Weston Station signal box, shockingly injured and unconscious. Inside the signal box, these contraptions, with their dials, wires and bells, and the 20 signal levers they operated, […]
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