Henry James O'Farrell
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Henry James O'Farrell was the first man in Australian history to attempt a political assassination. In 1868, he shot and wounded Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, the second son of Queen Victoria.
O'Farrell was 35 years old and originally from Dublin, Ireland. He was an alcoholic, and had been released from a lunatic asylum immediately before the attempted assassination. He had been briefly employed by his brother, a Melbourne solicitor, who also had offices in Ballarat, and is therefore sometimes described as a law clerk. But his most recent occupation was as a produce merchant in Ballarat's Haymarket.
In 1868, Prince Alfred, then 23 years old, went on a world tour, which included the first royal visit to Australia. There were planned stops in Adelaide, Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney and many other places. On 12 March the Prince attended the Sailor's Picnic in in the beachfront suburb of Clontarf, near Sydney.
O'Farrell came up behind the Prince and fired a revolver into his back. This outraged the attending crowd, and O'Farrell was nearly lynched on the spot before police arrested him.
The Prince was shot in the back just to the right of the spine, but the wound was not fatal. It was serious, and he was hospitalized for two weeks. He was cared for by six nurses trained by Florence Nightingale, who had arrived in Australia that February under Matron Lucy Osburn.
The attack caused great embarrassment in the colony, and led to a wave of anti-Irish sentiment, directed at all Irish people, including Protestant Loyalists. The next day, 20,000 people attended a meeting to protest “yesterday’s outrage”.
O'Farrell first claimed, falsely, to be under orders from the Fenian Brotherhood. But though he was violently anti-British and anti-Royalist, he later denied being a Fenian. [1].
O’Farrell was tried at Sydney on 30 March, 1868. The solicitor with the thankless task of defending him was Butler Cole Aspinall. Aspinall had previously defended the rebel leaders of the Eureka Stockade.
Aspinall's defence was innocent by reason of insanity. He cited O’Farrell's history of mental illness and recent release from an asylum. O'Farrell was convicted anyway and sentenced to death. Prince Alfred tried to intercede to save his would-be killer, but O'Farrell was hanged on 21 April, 1868, less than two months after the shooting.
Prince Alfred soon recovered. He returned home in early April, 1868.
On 24 March, the New South Wales Legislative Assembly voted to erect a memorial building. In order “to raise a permanent and substantial monument in testimony of the heartfelt gratitude of the community at the recovery of HRH”, it was to be the Prince Alfred Hospital. Queen Victoria permitted the use of the term 'Royal', so the memorial building was the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. It was built using funds raised by public subscription, and is today an important hospital in New South Wales.
