Hand crafted news

I went for a wander through the State Library today. It's a wonderful gold rush era building that has been beautifully restored.

Given the Library is home to many important historical documents, I decided to take a look at the website when I got back to the office.

I couldn't believe some of the stuff in their archives to be honest. Best of all, many of these historical pieces have been digitised for posterity.

The piece of paper in the pic above is, believe it or not, the first ever newspaper published in Melbourne.

It dates back to 1838.

The most amazing thing about this four page newspaper though, is the fact it was hand written.

Must have taken ages to put together.

As for distribution, I guess they simply posted it somewhere prominent in the settlement for people to read.

Click here to see more. Click pic to enlarge.