That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons of history.
— Aldous Huxley
Praise for the PRINCE and the assassin
It illuminates a fascinating but forgotten milepost in Australian history.
— Professor Geoffrey Blainey, AC
A compelling account of one of the most controversial political crimes in Australian history, it shows how religious zealotry, bigotry and political over-reaction can bring a community to the brink of disorder.
It reveals disturbingly that when the criminal law is rushed and under political pressures, it can go awry.
Mr Harris is not only a sound researcher, but a very readable narrator.
His story brings lessons from the nineteenth century of Queen Victoria to the twenty-first century of Al Quaeda.
All contemporary politicians and community leaders dealing with the continuing fallout from 9/11 should read it.
— Professor Greg Woods QC, legal historian.
Marvellous…A truly gripping tale, wonderfully researched.
— Jane Ridley, Author, Broadcaster and Professor of Modern History, University of Buckingham, United Kingdom
A gripping tale of royal debauchery, abandoned priesthood, mental infirmity and Irish rebellion, leading to the attempted assassination of Queen Victoria’s favourite son…This book has the excitement of a racy political crime thriller, backed by the most sound historical research. It gives the impression of an account written by an eyewitness. There are lessons for us today from the politicians’ overreaction to what was mistakenly viewed as an existential threat to Australian society.
— Mark Tedeschi, AM, QC Senior Crown Prosecutor, NSW
...One and half centuries later, in an era of fresh anxiety about terrorism, Australia is again facing a test of character. This time it is Muslim Australians who bear the brunt of prejudice, suspicion and guilt by association. Harris’s book, a fascinating read at multiple levels, helps frame current anxieties in a deeper context.
— Professor Greg Barton, Research Professor in Global Islamic Politics, Alfred Deakin Institute (ADI), Co-Editor, Islam Christian Muslim Relations, Senior Fellow, Hedayah, Abu Dhabi
Praise for Solomon’s Noose
Impressive research and a story that challenges the imagination — except that it’s true.
— Les Carlyon, award-winning author of Gallipoli and The Great War
The haunting story of the convict who became the British Empire’s youngest executioner. Beware the shock of the true.
— Andrew Rule, award-winning author/journalist.
Intriguing story…captivating tale…a fascinating read.
— The Australian.
A vivid picture.
— Sydney Morning Herald.
Quite gripping.
— The Age.
A ripping yarn.
— The Sunday Age.
Fascinating. A remarkable footnote to the penal era (which) reveals many tantalising facts, each one a potential starting point for another book.
— Herald Sun.
Research is superb.
— The Examiner.
An illuminating look at the difficult birth of a nation through its darkest period.
— SmithJournal.
A chillingly real account…a vivid picture of Van Diemen’s Land in Australia’s formative years.
— New Idea.
Absorbing….a fascinating story…of what convict life was like and its implications across a broader society striving to take advantage of the opportunities of this fledgling country.
— Limelight Reviews.
The reader (will be) indisputably captivated…a moving and often poignant description of crime, life and death in colonial Tasmania.
— Tasmanian Historical Research Association.
the
PRINCE
and the
assassin
Australia’s First Royal Tour
and Portent of World Terror
STEVE HARRIS
M
MELBOURNE BOOKS
INTRODUCTION
The two guns sat comfortably in the palm of each hand. Alfred Albert’s eyes took in every small detail of their blue nickel finishes, triggers and barrels. He instinctively felt the weight of the Colt ‘navy’ pistol and the Smith and Wesson ‘old army’ revolver, perhaps surprised by their relative lightness.
Through his service in the British Navy he was not unfamiliar with weaponry, but this was personal. He was a central figure in the story they represented, one with threads running through the reach and rule of the British Empire, the reign and influence of Queen Victoria, the future of Empire and Royalty in the face of republican pressures in places like Ireland and Australia, and man’s eternal conflicts over matters of national security, law, religion and politics.
As he fingered the old American Civil War weapons, Alfred might have appreciated they, like him, had come together at Sydney Harbour from the other side of the world, each in the name of security, but then come to be front and centre of the biggest crime in Australia’s young history and a ‘reign of terror’ in the world’s most remote land.
The guns were two of the thousands, favoured by Colonel Samuel Colt, Indian fighter General George Custer and frontiersman James Butler (‘Wild Bill’) Hickok, which had been abandoned after the Civil War, and imported into the frontier of an emerging Australia for use by gold-diggers, farmers and constables.
Two of them, sold as ‘righteous’ rather than cheap copies, were procured by a young man who had crossed the world as an immigrant with a family pursuing religious and political freedom, and been knocking on the door of becoming an ordained priest. Henry O’Farrell had a crucifix in his pocket, but procured the guns because he had another calling in his mind, an Englishman called Alfred.
It was almost 100 years since another English naval officer, Captain James Cook first planted a flag in the sandy shoreline of Terra Nullius to claim the newest and most distant addition to the British Empire. Queen Victoria had despatched her favourite son, Prince Alfred Ernest Albert, to undertake a Royal journey unequalled, before or since, in distance and duration, with a threefold agenda:
