Archivists celebrate historic Australian treasure found in Ottawa
Last Updated: Friday, August 8, 2008 | 10:04 AM ET
CBC News
The playbill is believed to be the oldest known document ever printed in Australia. An Australian playbill from 1796 brought together librarians and archivists from both Canada and Australia for a celebration in Ottawa this week.
Officials from the National Library of Australia travelled to Canada to express their thanks for the artifact, discovered at Library and Archives Canada last year and believed to be the oldest document ever printed in Australia.
"We're incredibly grateful first of all that they should have saved and guarded this thing for so long and especially that … they were generous enough to give this very special item to Australia," said Jan Fullerton, a spokeswoman for Australia's national library.
She said the playbill helps shed some light on colonial Australian society at a time when its population mostly comprised British convicts.
It is believed to have been taken from Australia to England, and to have travelled from England to Canada in the early 1900s.
The playbill's return to Australia has already been celebrated at events there, and it is to be the centrepiece of a new "treasures gallery" set to open next year at the National Library of Australia. The library is located in Parkes, a suburb of Canberra, the capital.
Peter Levick, a spokesman for Library and Archives Canada, said Canadian archivists are "delighted" that the playbill has resonated with Australians and become something important to them.
