Goodenough was the senior naval officer for the British government for the Pacific, based in Sydney. When he intervened in a native dispute at the Santa Cruz Islands, (Solomon Islands), he was wounded by poisoned arrows and died eight days later along with other expedition members The expedition was abandoned and returned to Sydney with the bodies.
The print consists of four views of the funeral arrangements. It is a good example to illustrate the death protocols for senior naval officers.
Portrait of Goodenough.
H.M.S. Pearl with crossed yard arms.
Landing the bodies.
The funeral procession.
 
Published in The Illustrated Australian News. 1875.
 
Wood engraving.
 
225 x 352 mm.
 
Wood engravings were first produced in Europe in the fifteenth century. During the late eighteenth century the process was reintroduced and used for inexpensive illustrated books. The nineteenth century publishing phenomena of the illustrated newspaper was made possible by use of the technique. The process allowed for the illustration and the text to be printed by a single pass through the printing press using the letterpress method.  It also made it possible for several engravers or even a team to produce and work on a single illustration at the same time.

All the major artists of the period contributed to the illustrations. Some papers acknowledged the artists on the plates but The Australasian Sketcher appears to have had a policy of anonymity. Where known, we have included the artist’s name.