NSW-Prince Alfred’s Second Visit to New South Wales.-H.R.H. Disembarking.

Very rare large engraving depicting the Prince Alfred returning to Sydney the year after the attempted assassination attempt on his life, during his visit in Sydney in 1868.

Prince Alfred Ernest Albert, Duke of Edinburgh, second son of Queen Victoria, was on a world tour on the steam frigate HMS Galatea and visited Adelaide, Melbourne, Hobart, Brisbane, and Sydney. He arrived in Sydney on 21 January 1868 and  received a most enthusiastic welcome with many events held in his honour. The incident occurred while he attended a picnic at Clontarf on 12 March, organised as a fund raiser for the Sydney Sailors’ Home by Sydney barrister and politician William Manning. During the event, an Irishman Henry James O’Farrell who had suffered considerable mental illness, attempted to assassinate the prince. Although O’Farrell fired his pistol at close range, the bullet, on striking the prince’s back, glanced off the ribs, inflicting only a slight wound. O’Farrell only narrowly escaped lynching by the crowd, and was immediately arrested. The prince was nursed by the newly arrived Lady Superintendent of Sydney Hospital, Lucy Osburn.