Sign of Respect

From a prominent place on a public drinking fountain in central West Maitland, this plaque saw many a carthorse approach to lap at the cool water in the trough below and townspeople stop to drink from its bubbling spout. The fountain was installed in 1889 in memory of Dr Robert James Pierce, and the plaque […]

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Who, When and Why?

In the 2004 book Time gentlemen, please!: Maitland’s Hotels Past & Present, a redrawn copy of this old undated plan of West Maitland was published, with an estimate that it was drawn around, or at least represents, the year 1858. But what evidence places it in the 1850s? For the Wonnarua people, the area depicted […]

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Drink That Which You Like Best!

In a time when algorithms track our search history and directly advertise goods and services to us we may not appreciate that retail advertising at point-of-sale and upon packaging has a long history. Advertising mirrors, such as the one shown here, replaced tin and enamel signs, were produced for pubs, shops and milk bars and […]

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