The small town of Paterson, on the Paterson River 175 kilometres north of Sydney, takes its name from Colonel William Paterson, the man who surveyed the area in 1801.

Prior to white settlement the region was inhabited by the Gringgai clan of the indigenous Wanaruah people. The first Europeans to arrive in the area after Paterson's exploration of it were the cedar-getters.

The inaugural local land grant was made in 1821 to Captain William Dunn, although by 1818 it was known that there were eight farms set up along the river.

Paterson was officially proclaimed in 1833 and became a flourishing inland river port. Its oldest remaining house, Noumea (1826), predates Paterson's proclamation. For a time this building also housed a school.

The Scottish origin of many of the early settlers meant that St Ann's Presbyterian Church (late 1830s) was the first church built in the township. This is now believed to be the Australian mainland's longest standing Presbyterian Church.

St Paul's Church of England, Paterson (courtesy Dungog Shire Council)

The Gothic Revival-style St Paul's Anglican Church was constructed of rubble stone in 1845. The current St Columba's Catholic Church is a brick construction dating to 1884.

In the 1850s the improved road to Maitland saw the decline of the river trade.

The 1857 courthouse (now a museum) was extended in 1865. It was here in 1866 that Mary Ann Ward, the wife of bushranger Captain Thunderbolt, was tried and convicted of vagrancy. Its last court services concluded in 1967.

Captain Thunderbolt himself was employed on the nearby 'Tocal' property, where he returned to steal horses in 1856. Some of the buildings at Tocal date from the 1920s. The double-storey, Regency Tocal mansion itself was constructed in 1841

At its height Paterson supported five hotels. One of these opened in 1864 as the Cricketers Arms, but flooding in 1875 resulted in its demolition. The rebuilt building, at a new site, was called the Court House Hotel. It too sustained flood damage, and later also fire damage in both the 1930s and 1960s, when the manager's wife died in the blaze.

By the 1870s timber mills were operating in the district. A painted brick primary school building (1877) served that purpose until 1971.

Paterson Musuem (courtesy Dungog Shire Council)

Paterson was connected to the railway in 1911. Agriculture was the region's economic mainstay throughout the 20th century.