The quest for Australia's oldest surviving printed document.

Some of the oldest surviving printed documents in the world are types of printed ephemera. These treasured examples emphasise the potential of printed ephemera as artefact, not just documents that complement recorded history, but documents with a fascinating life of their own.

In Western or European civilisation the oldest dated example of printing by moveable type still in existence is a Papal 'Indulgence' printed in 1454 in the mining town of Mainz, southern Germany, most probably by Johann Gutenberg. (1) The 'Indulgence' was an official authorisation or receipt granted by the Pope, purchased by an individual to forgive the temporal punishment applicable to their sins. They were printed and purchased in their thousands, and the volume of them no doubt assisted in the preservation of the now prized examples.

Gutenberg developed a rudimentary printing press from the principles of a wine press using movable metal type and printed what has come to be called the western world's first printed book, the Gutenberg Bible of 1455. Gutenberg is claimed to be the 'father' of printing but may not have invented the process in Europe, as Laurens Janszoon Coster of Haarlem, Netherlands, had already used movable type between 1440 and 1446 (2) Block printing and printing with movable type were used in China, Japan and Korea centuries before they were adopted in Europe.

As historians know, establishing facts can be surprisingly difficult because source information may throw up contradictions or inaccuracies that leave a researcher confused and frustrated. A colleague who spied an entry in Anthony Barker's When was that: A chronology of Australia 1788-1990, (3) initiated a survey of reference works that reveals two schools of thought have developed in relation to what is the oldest example of Australian printing still in existence.

But first the background: Ferguson's Bibliography of Australia (4) records that the earliest known example of Australian printing is a broadside entitled, Instructions for the Constables of the Country Districts dated Sydney, November 16, 1796. Together with another broadside entitled Instructions to the Watchmen of the Town Divisions dated Sydney, November 18, 1796, this broadside had been preserved in the records of the Colonial Secretary's Department, Sydney. Custodianship then passed to the Mitchell Library and later to the Archives Office of New South Wales (now the State Records Authority) where they still reside.

Broadsides are one of the oldest recognised forms of printed ephemera and can be described as antecedent to the poster, proclamation or public notice. A broadside consists of a single sheet printed on one side only, intended for prominent public display, and they may range markedly in size. The earliest documents published by the 'Government Press' in Sydney were suitably authoritarian in nature as the content of these broadsides suggest.

These broadsides were printed by George Hughes, the 'first Australian printer', on a small wooden screw press that had been brought to Sydney Cove with the First Fleet in 1788, with a small quantity of type. The printing press remained idle until a suitable operator was found in 1796, when Hughes established a small printery behind Government House and began production of general orders, rules and regulations for the Government in considerable quantity. (5) His tenure as Government primer was short lived, and he was replaced by George Howe who arrived at Sydney in November 1800 and became Government Printer almost immediately. (6)

Howe was a more experienced printer having worked for The Times in London prior to transportation in 1799, but his tenure as Government Printer, assisted by his son Robert, was still characterised by frustrating logistical difficulties, such as chronic shortages of type, paper and ink and slow paying subscribers. Nevertheless, the Howes were able to print the first Australian book, New South Wales General Standing Orders (1802), and the first Australian newspaper, the Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser on March 5, 1803. This was a single sheet folded to foolscap folio size to make four pages, each page set in three columns.

Playbills advertising some of the colony's earliest theatrical performances were also produced by George Hughes from around the time of the initial use of the press in 1796. Another of the archetypal forms of printed ephemera, the playbill is like a flier, handbill or a mini-program, advertising a dramatic performance. It consists of a single unfolded sheet printed on one side. Two extremely rare playbills are held in the Mitchell Library and are among the four oldest extant pieces of Australian printing.

The story of these playbills is typical in many ways of the amazing survival and potential of printed ephemera. The earlier playbill advertises a performance of the comedy The Recruiting Officer and a musical entertainment called The Virgin Unmasked on Saturday, March 8, 1800. The Recruiting Officer also happens to be the first play ever performed in the colony, with a cast of convicts, to mark the birthday of King George III on June 4, 1789.

The second playbill advertises a performance of the play Henry the Fourth followed by a new dance called Drunken Swiss plus The Irish Widow on Tuesday, April 8, 1800. These two originals fluttered out of a secondhand copy of the Sydney Gazette bought in Hobart by Mr. Richard Thomson, representing Angus and Robertson. They were offered for sale to David Scott Mitchell who snapped them up for a mere 100 pounds. (7)

But now the controversy. Some Australian reference works state the existence of another playbill dated July 23, 1796, advertising a performance of The Busybody and The Poor Soldier for the benefit of H. Green. Anthony Barker's When was that?: Chronology of Australia 1788-1990 states explicitly:

"Playbill printed for the performance of 23 July (1796) is the oldest extant piece of printing in Australia. (8)

Another reference appears in The Guiness Book of Australian Firsts, stating:

"The earliest known printed advertisement was a playbill for The Busybody and The Poor Soldier, to be performed at the Sydney Theatre as a benefit for H. Green on 23 July 1796. (9)

The reference in The Howes and their Press is particularly intriguing. It implies that this playbill was held with the other two playbills in the Mitchell Library and that it was being described at first hand.

"Hughes' press issued several historically important playbills, some of these are displayed in the Mitchell Library ... Hughes utilised the Government Press for printing playbills. An early playbill is dated July 23, 1796. It describes the evening's performance as set apart for the benefit of H. Green, and the pieces to be played as "The Busybody" and "The Poor Soldier". (10)

If these references refer to an extant item it would be the oldest known Australian playbill and the oldest extant piece of Australian printing! There is no reference in the State Library of New South Wales catalogues to this playbill and the question remains, if it existed and it was the oldest, why is there no illustration of it to be found along with contemporary playbills in Howes and their Press or any other reference work? Surely such an important document, had it been preserved, would be illustrated together with the four other earliest known examples. Just where it now is, if it ever was, remains a tantalising mystery. It is the black tulip of Australian printed ephemera!

The evidence relating to the first Australian theatrical performances and by association, the first printed playbills, is scant. Research leads from intrigue toward frustration as contradictory information is found. In The Romance of the Sydney Stage for example, the date given for a Poor Soldier, Busy Body performance is stated as 16 July, 1796 rather than 23 July. (11) The majority of biographical sources, including a study Early printing and publishing in New South Wales to 1842 compiled by the Mitchell Library's Miss Ida Leeson; A Documentary History of Australia, and The Australian Encyclopedia, refer only to the two broadsides and the two playbills, which definitely exist. But a question remains as to the existence of this third playbill.

There is the possibility that the item is preserved in a bound volume of Australian playbills. Or perhaps a detailed description of this playbill was recorded in conjunction with a description of the actual performance of the Poor Soldier and The Busybody which took place in Sidaways Sydney Theatre on July 23, 1796. This coincides with the initial use of the printing press by George Hughes, who was also listed in the cast of the Recruiting Officer. Hughes probably produced playbills for most performances at the Sydney or Sidaways Theatre from the very first on January 16, 1796, that being, a performance of Edward Young's The Revenge and a farce, The Hotel by T. Vaughan. (12) Such a description alone, if not an extant copy of the item, may have formed the record of what is suggested to be the first printed advertisement of playbill in Australian history. But does it still exist?

Robert Jordan in his superbly researched book, The Convict Theatres of Early Australia 1788-1840 published in 2002, has shed some light on the mystery, and perhaps solved it. (13) The playbill for the Theatre, Sydney, 23 July 1796 featuring performances of The Busybody and the Poor Soldier was reprinted in a British journal called the Oracle on 13 July, 1797. Similarly, a playbill for the Theatre, Sydney, 1 June 1799 featuring performances of Fortunes Fool and Bon Ton, was reproduced in Bell's Weekly Messenger of 6 July 1800 also published in London.

It would seem copies of playbills were transported to England and reprinted nearly a year after the event as a means of informing, or perhaps entertaining the public with evidence of colonial activities in distant Botany Bay, to show, as the reproduction suggests, "to what a degree of refinement that settlement has already attained."

What became of these playbills after being reproduced and how the reprint in the Oracle of the July 23, 1796 Busybody/Poor Soldier playbill became known in Australian reference works remains a mystery. In the absence of an extant copy of the Busy Body/Poor Soldier playbill, I would suggest the broadside dated November, 1796 Instructions to the Constables held in State Records NSW is indeed the oldest surviving example of Australian printing.

NOTES

(1) McMurtrie, Douglas C. (1960) The Book: The story of printing and bookmaking. Oxford University Press: London p.149

(2) Twyman, Michael (1998) The British Library Guide to printing history and techniques. The British Library: London. p.21

(3) Barker, A.W. (Anthony Wilhelm) (1992) What happened when: a chronology of Australia 1788-1990. Sydney Allen & Unwin. p. 13

(4) Ferguson, John Alexander (1941-t969) Bibliography of Australia. Sydney: Angus and Robertson. vol. 1 p.94

(5) Ferguson, John Alexander (1936) The Howes and their press. Sydney: Sunnybrook Press, p.18

(6) Shaw A.G.L. [ed] (1966) Australian Dictionary of Biography. vol.1 (George Howe) Melbourne: Melbourne University Press. p.558

(7) Robertson, Anne (1988) Treasures of the State Library of New South Wales: the Australiana collections. Sydney: Collins Australia in association with the State Library of New South Wales. p81

(8) Ibid

(9.) Robertson, Patrick (1987) Guiness Australian firsts. Sydney: Collins Australia Guiness Books. p.9

(10) ibid

(11) Osric [Humphrey Hall and Alfred John Cripps] (1996) The romance of the Sydney stage. Sydney: Currency Press in association with the National Library of Australia, p.5

(12) Irvin, Eric (1985) Dictionary of Australian theatre. Sydney: Hale & Iremonger, p.136

(13) Jordan, Robert (2002) The convict theatres of early Australia 1788-1840. Sydney: Currency House Inc. p.44

Colin Warner

Ephemera Librarian, State Library of New South Wales.