In May 2007, Ottawa archivist Elaine Hoag discovered an artifact that would change the way Australians remember their country’s colonial past.
The object of discovery was an historic playbill printed July 1796 in Sydney, the oldest surviving document printed in Australia.
More than 200 years old, this poster for a production of Jane Shore was discovered by chance in the shelves of Library and Archives Canada, the main national repository of historical documents on Wellington Street in Centretown.
“It was a little bit of an accident,” says Hoag, a rare book specialist at the national archives. The playbill had been tucked away in a 150 year-old scrapbook that had been donated to Library and Archives Canada 34 years earlier – in 1973 – by the Library of Parliament.
After examining one of the small and poorly printed sheets of paper, Hoag says she remembers wondering if it was a possibility that Australia – which became a British penal colony in the 18th century — could have boasted a Royal Theatre by 1796?
In fact it was.
As Hoag explains, the artifact represents Australia’s rich cultural history, proving that the country was once more than just an exile colony of inmates.
“The playbill has an iconic significance for the country,” says Hoag. “It changes the view of Australia as a colony. It’s a cultural sign.”
Following the discovery, Canada returned the national treasure to Australia in September 2007 during a state visit by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
On Feb. 12, as part of series of talks highlighting some of the hidden gems at the Library and Archives, Hoag spoke about her discovery and presented four months’ worth of research documenting the extraordinary journey the artifact has taken during its 213 year lifespan.
After being printed in Australia, the playbill circumnavigated the globe. It was originally transported from the South Pacific continent to Britain, then ended up in Canada before finally returning to Australia – after Hoag’s discovery – more than two centuries later.