Discovered in a scrapbook held by the Library and Archives in Canada, it was donated to the people of Australia by the Government of Canada in 2007. It is now a valuable treasure in the collection at the National Library of Australia.

Theatre in early colonial life

Despite the harsh conditions in colonial Australia at the time, the playbill shows that early European settlers still found time for leisure and entertainment. It advertises a lively evening of theatre featuring 3 performances: 

• tragedy Jane Shore
• a popular comic dance,  The Wapping Landlady
• absurdist comedy, The Miraculous Cure.

The playbill also lists the actors who performed in each piece. Some of them became known for other roles in the colony. George Hughes (active 1796–1800), for example, was listed as one of the dancers in The Wapping Landlady. He also printed the playbill and is recognised as Australia’s first printer.

The first printing press

Hughes printed the playbill using a small wooden press that had arrived with the First Fleet. For several years after the fleet’s arrival, no one in the colony had the skills to use it, so official notices had to be written out by hand—a time-consuming task.

Hughes, a convict serving a seven-year sentence for theft, revealed he had worked as a printer in England. In 1795, he was appointed the colony’s official printer.

A rare survival

Playbills were not meant to last. They were usually thrown away, torn down or pasted over after the performance. That makes the survival of this playbill remarkable. For comparison, more than 200 government orders were printed between 1795 and 1800, yet no original copies have been found. In the early years of European settlement, few printed documents were expected to survive—making this playbill an important piece of Australia's cultural history.

Learning activities

These activities explore early colonial life in Sydney and the development of theatre and printing in Australia.