National Library finds 120-year-old chocolates commissioned by Queen Victoria and owned by Banjo Paterson

Conservators at the National Library of Australia have unearthed one of the world’s oldest boxes of chocolates, dating back 120 years to the time of the Boer War.

The souvenir chocolate tin was discovered at the bottom of a box of personal papers from the estate of Australian bush poet Andrew Barton “Banjo” Paterson.

Remarkably, the chocolates were not only unmolested after more than a century, but still looked — almost — good enough to eat.

The chocolate bar, marked into six fingers, still had remnants of old straw packing and silver foil wrapping.

The discovery astonished staff in the Library’s conservation lab, who weren’t expecting to find Banjo’s sweets hidden amongst a career’s worth of poetry, diaries and newspaper clippings.