Rare Bites: A ticket in Australia’s first lottery

Sydney Library

Our third talk of the Rare Bites series is coming soon!

When: 30 May; 1-1.30pm

Where: New Law School Annex, Seminar Room 028

Speaker: Dr Neil Radford

In this talk Dr Radford will discuss Australia’s first lottery, held in Sydney in 1849. This lottery was surrounded by controversy and was probably illegal. It was immensely popular however, and the government turned a blind eye because it seemed the only way of averting the consequences of a financial disaster. The Library’s Rare Books and Special Collections holds one of the tickets issued for the lottery, plus the full list of prizes.

About the speaker:

Dr Neil Radford was the University Librarian 1980-1996. He is currently Patron of the Friends of the University of Sydney Library; on the Executive of the Chancellor’s Committee, and Voluntary Editor at the Dictionary of Sydney.

Register here.