Historical information

These two 1897 dockets are from the Warrnambool auctioneers, John Hyland and Archibald Macfarlane. They refer to the sale by auction of the material from the demolition of the temporary buildings erected at the corner of Timor and Liebig Streets in Warrnambool as part of the staging of the Warrnambool Industrial and Art Exhibition, 1896-7. This exhibition, a major event in Warrnambool's history, ran from December 1896 to March 1897 and according to the press reports at the time attracted over 70,000 people to its many exhibitions, competitions and entertainments. Despite its popularity the Exhibition ran at a financial loss and the sale of the material from the temporary buildings was an attempt to recoup some of the losses. The sale of the timber, iron, glass etc from the temporary buildings returned about one-third of the original cost of the buildings. A feature of the John Hyland docket is the payment of seven shillings and sixpence to Ballis the bellman for ringing his bell and vocally advertising the sale in the town.

Significance

These two dockets are of considerable interest as they add to our knowledge of the Warrnambool Industrial and Art Exhibition, an important event in our local 19th century history

Physical description

.1 and .2 These are two dockets printed on white paper with ruled red lines.The headings are printed and the details of sales are handwritten in black ink.