The Canadian PM turned over the historic document to Prime Minister, John Howard at
Government House in Canberra during a luncheon in his honour.

The document was discovered inside a 150-year-old scrapbook that
had been donated to Library and Archives Canada (LAC) by the Library of
Parliament in 1973.

Experts in both countries have confirmed that the playbill is indeed the
oldest surviving document printed in Australia.

"Canadians and
Australians share a passion for the preservation of our cultural
heritage," says Josée Verner, Minister of Canadian
Heritage, Status of Women and Official Languages.

"We were thrilled to
discover this extraordinary artifact, and we are proud to return it, in
the spirit of the great friendship between our countries, to the
keeping of the Australian people."

The playbill was printed for a July
30, 1796 production in Sydney of Jane Shore, a drama written by a
British playwright in the early 1700s.

Researchers are still trying to
track the path of the document from Sydney, to the scrapbook, to
Canada's Library of Parliament. An investigation by LAC's rare book
librarian uncovered the significance of the document.

"The discovery of
this 211-year-old document and its provenance is a credit to our
talented and dedicated people at Library and Archives Canada," says
Verner.

"I'm proud to say that Canada has preserved it with
great care so we can return it to the people of Australia."

During a speech in honour of the presentation to the Australian Prime Minister at Parliament House
in Canberra, his Canadian counterpart says, "I am not allowed to touch it or to lift it, so what I am going to do
is present you with a certificate of authenticity."

The Jane
Shore playbill will become part of the collection of Australia's
National Library, where it will be exhibited in the new Treasures
Gallery, due to open in 2008.

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