An ephemeral reminder of the growing prosperity of the colony and a rising middle class. This formal receipt is also of colonial printing interest: the printed forms were prepared by the two printers Alfred Stephens and Frederick Stokes who went into business together in 1829, starting the Sydney Herald (later Sydney Morning Herald) in 1831. The form is completed in manuscript to receipt two pounds, twelve shillings from one Mr Webb as a deposit for Lot 4 in the "Burwood Estate, Thos. Rowleys division". It is signed by the property's auctioneer Thomas Bodenham.

An ephemeral reminder of the growing prosperity of the colony and a rising middle class. This formal receipt is also of colonial printing interest: the printed forms were prepared by the two printers Alfred Stephens and Frederick Stokes who went into business together in 1829, starting the Sydney Herald (later Sydney Morning Herald) in 1831. The form is completed in manuscript to receipt two pounds, twelve shillings from one Mr Webb as a deposit for Lot 4 in the "Burwood Estate, Thos. Rowleys division". It is signed by the property's auctioneer Thomas Bodenham.

This slight piece memorialises the period when suburban growth was really getting going. In about 1833, the owners of a number of grants began to subdivide and sell their lands and thus commenced the growth of the suburb of Burwood. Henry Webb (1786-1840) was one of these early buyers: he was the licensee for the Hope Tavern, York St and Barrack Lane, Sydney, while his son Henry Richard Webb went on to build a villa Cicada in 1863 that still stands today in Queen Street Croydon not far from (the eponymous) Webb Street.

Burwood Estate was established from a grant of 250 acres made by Governor Hunter on 3 August 1799 to Captain Thomas Rowley of the New South Wales Corps. After a successful tour of duty in Norfolk Island Rowley had continued to make good his landholdings under Governor Gidley King. By all accounts from humble beginnings and poorly educated, Rowley rose to some prosperity, also helping the rise of Simeon Lord his former servant.