Photograph of Sydney viewed across a bay. On the left is Garden Palace that was constructed to house the Sydney International Exhibition in 1879. A large ship and smaller boats can be seen in the bay. Trees in the foreground.

Prince Albert Victor and Prince George landed at Fort Macquarie, Sydney on the 15th July 1881. Anniversary Day (referred to in the title) or Australia Day, falls on the 26th January and marks the day in 1788 when Arthur Phillip first landed at Sydney Cove. Admiral Arthur Phillip of the Royal Navy went on to become the founding Governor of New South Wales.   

This is a photograph from one of the nine albums compiled following Prince Albert Victor (1864-92) and Prince George of Wales' (1865-1936) world tour aboard HMS Bacchante from 1879 to 1882. The photographs were collected by their chaperon and tutor, John Neale Dalton.

The majority of the images in these albums are topographical views and architectural studies, loosely arranged according to the group’s itinerary. They include photographs of artefacts, local people and public figures, as well as portraits of the princes taken during the tour. The attempt to recreate the experience of a journey through such an assortment of images is common to many amateur travelling albums of this period. In 1886, some of the photographs in the albums were reproduced as engravings in the published accounts of the voyage, The Cruise of Her Majesty's Ship Bacchante, 1879-1882.