I used to work at the Supreme Court of NSW, in a brain-dead monkey job that left me with a lot of free time. So, I’d hide down in the basement and read old court files.
The oldest of them dated from early colonial days; late 18th/early 19th century. Leather-bound books, two feet wide and three feet tall, filled with unbelievably gorgeous handwritten copperplate.
Of course, most of what was written was along the lines of “Patrick O’Carnie, found guilty of horse theft, sentenced to death by hanging, commuted to one hundred lashes and twenty years hard labour”.
