AustLit

An advertisement for the Prince of Wales Opera House production of Robert Whitworth's The Derby Day, John Maddison Morton's Your Life's in Danger and of the sketch The Epsom Downs on a Derby Day on 5, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 September 1868.

The version of the advertisement published on 5 September 1868 includes the information that the winning jockey of the Australian Derby will be presented with 'a handsome mounted riding whip' during the evening's performance.

An advertisement for the Royal Victoria Theatre production by William Gourlay and his family of 'Mrs. M'Gregor's Levee' on 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 September 1868. Additional items on the program, with some nightly variation, include Joseph Lunn's The Rights of Woman, Henry Mayhew's The Wandering Minstrel, and 'The Loves of Dumbiedikes and Jeannie Deans' from Walter Scott's Heart of Midlothian.

(It is not clear from the advertisement, see for instance the 9 September 1868 advertisement, whether the excerpt from Heart of Midlothian was directly from Walter Scott's novel or from one of the Heart of Midlothian stage adaptations.)

The 'Flaneur' muses on Sydney's recent political and social occurrences. His subjects include a meeting of 'native born' Australians (from which he was excluded by dint of birth); the Public Schools Bill; and the class of people employed in the Civil Service.

The publishers of the Times advise that they have become the proprietors of the newspaper 'hitherto known as the Evening Mail'. From 20 June 1868, the newly acquired newspaper will be known as The Mail and published twice weekly.

An advertisement, probably placed by Samuel Bennett (sole proprietor, printer and publisher of the Empire), for the sale of a single cylinder printing machine. The sale is being offered 'to make room for a new machine daily expected from England'.