Museum of the Riverina purchases 'The Last Man on the Tichborne Jury' cartoon by George Cruikshank

The Museum of the Riverina has acquired The Last Man on the Tichborne Jury - an artwork by renowned satirical cartoonist George Cruikshank.

The cartoon depicts an elderly juror surrounded by decades of court notes, satirising the extensive length of the famous Tichborne trial in which a Wagga butcher claimed to be the long-lost heir to an English fortune.

Museum curator Michelle Maddison said she was amazed when a keen-eyed Wagga resident told her the artwork was going to be sold in a New York auction.

"It's very rare that a piece on Tichborne comes up for sale ... and we hadn't realised the original painting even still existed," she said.

"It was only through good fortune that we became aware it was going to be put up for sale."

That good fortune came in the form of Dr Sam Bowker, a local art historian who came across an image of the painting while scrolling through his emails.

The email was a catalogue from British antiquarian booksellers Jarndyce, which mentioned that the historical cartoon was going up for sale.

"They actually led the catalogue with the image of this artwork and I thought 'oh my goodness, this needs to be in Wagga'," Dr Bowker said.

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"The Tichborne trial is of course what made Wagga internationally famous in the late 19^th century ... so there is no better home for it."

Dr Bowker alerted the Museum of the Riverina of his discovery and the process to bring the painting, which at the time was in a crate travelling across the Atlantic Ocean, to the Riverina soon began.

Ms Maddison said the owner of the cartoon was more than happy to sell it to the Wagga museum, especially when they heard about the city's existing Tichborne collection.

After months of travel and issues with customs, the artwork finally arrived in Wagga this month - much to the curator's delight.

"Towards the end it was kind of like 'wow are we ever going to get this'," Ms Maddison said.

"It was great to finally get it in our hands and to have this piece of history ... it's something very special."

She said the cartoon will be the centrepiece of an exhibition on the Tichborne trial which the Wagga museum is hoping to launch in the near future.

Securing the artwork cost the Museum of the Riverina about $8000, half of which was paid by the Wagga and District Historical Society.

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