Lot 2647

Description

Bank of Australia, lottery ticket for the disposal of unsaleable assets of the bank, ticket 5549, issued to W.C.Wentworth, Sydney, 19th day of October 1848, signed by the four directors, imprint H.C.Jervis (MVR. p65). W.C.Wentworth has his signature on the back of the note. Very fine and very rare.

The Bank of Australia was established by John Macarthur and business associates on 8th June 1826. After a healthy start the bank failed on 2nd March 1843. The liquidation of the Bank of Australia resulted in the remaining assets of the bank being disposed of by lottery. Plans for a second lottery in April, 1849 were objected to by the government and it did not take place.

William Charles Wentworth (13 August 1790 - 20 March 1872) was an Australian explorer, journalist, politician and author, and one of the leading figures of early colonial New South Wales. He was the first native-born Australian to achieve a reputation overseas, and a leading advocate for self-government for the Australian colonies. In 1813 Wentworth, along with Gregory Blaxland and William Lawson, led the expedition which found a route across the Blue Mountains west of Sydney and opened up the grazing lands of inland New South Wales.