Paul Smith is a Conservator working at State Records NSW The
petition is from 1862 and was initiated in protest to the
sentencing of William Spicer, who was convicted for his
involvement in rioting against the Chinese community at Lambing
Flats gold fields in 1861. The individual collated sheets of
signatures were pasted together, 2 abreast and then end to end
to form a single 13 metre long document. For storage, the
petition was folded in half lengthways, and then compactly
rolled over and over. The problem for anyone who wanted to read
the document was that in order to open up the petition, the
entire length needed to be unrolled first. Once unrolled, there
was the issue of trying to safely open a 13 metre fold! Most of
the pages were in relatively good condition, but there were
signs of wear and strain due to the way it had been constructed.
What was required was to repair the tears and relieve some of
the inherent tension, and then to come up with an adequate
storage solution. Because the petition is made