Manuscript [Surveyor-General’s Office to Surveyor G. B. White]

Production date
07 Sep 1835
 About this object
Edward Denny Day (1801-1876) is a significant public figure in the early days of colonial Maitland. He was police Magistrate in Maitland in the late 1830s, the 1840s and from 1858 to 1869. He was Commissioner, Court of Requests from 1841 and of insolvent estates from 1842. He was also active in public life. As well, Day is associated with the prosecution of the men responsible for the Myall Creek massacre in 1838, and for the arrest of the ‘Jewboy bushrangers’ led by Edward Davis in 1840.
The letters and documents in the Edward Denny Day collection connect Day to specific events and services in Maitland and district. They also provide some documentation on the nature of the evolving colonial judicial system.
This letter predates Day’s appointment as Police Magistrate at Maitland in 1837. The Police Magistrate at the time was Pieter Laurentz Campbell. George Boyle White (1802-1876) surveyed much of the Hunter Valley. With reference to the ‘Resident Police Magistrate at Maitland’ asks White to mark out a space for re-fencing the Government paddock keeping access to Wallis Creek for the townspeople.
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Object detail

Significance
The Library’s Edward Denny Day Collection is significant for its documentation of aspects of the professional, public and private life of a well-known and respected public figure in Maitland’s colonial history. Complemented by other public collections of items relating to E. D. Day, the Library’s collection has the potential to add details to understanding the different capacities in which Day contributed and to the networks and judicial system within which he worked. The items are provenanced to Day’s descendants, and individual items are complete although the condition and fragility of individual items vary.

Statement of Significance completed by Janis Wilton, 2022
Collection type
Maitland Libraries
Media
Ink, paper
Measurements
32 x 20.3cm
Collection
E. D. Day Collection
Credit line
Acquired by Maitland Libraries, 2019.
Accession number
LIB2022.015

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