in this morning’s Globe and Mail an article about the PM and his visit to Australia.

“The oldest document to be created on an Australian printing press is about to return home, thanks to the Canadian government. Prime Minister Stephen Harper will give a copy of a playbill printed in July, 1796, to Australian Prime Minister John Howard after Mr. Harper addresses the Australian Parliament.”

I asked Jamie Hunter about the earliest printed documents in the HM collection.

He replied: “Our earliest documents date to the  1805 period but most of our
document collection goes from 1815 with the majority 1875-1950.”