The Queen and Prince Philip were the targets of an assassination plot during a visit to Australia almost 40 years ago, a retired NSW detective says.
Former detective superintendent Cliff McHardy said the unsophisticated plan consisted of placing a large wooden log across railway tracks near Lithgow, in the Blue Mountains, in a bid to derail the royal train.
Mr McHardy, 81, said a catastrophe was only narrowly averted, with the train striking the log but remaining on the tracks.
Details of the alleged conspiracy were supposedly kept under wraps to spare the Australian government any embarrassment, he said. News of the plot has finally emerged because MrMcHardy, who was the investigating officer at the time, wants to crack the unsolved mystery, saying, ''It was one of the big regrets of my police service.''
Mr McHardy said he had no idea who was behind the plot and only learned of it the morning after it occurred, when he was asked to retrieve the log.
He said the NSW government knew of the incident, and that federal police and the Queen's security had been on board the royal train.
While the retired officer said there was little record of the event, Lithgow police station's running sheets from the time would have detailed their inquiries.
''One of my offsiders ... was very good on running sheets and he documented every part of the inquiry from day to day, and if there was anything needed to be followed up you did it out of those statements,'' he said.
The NSW Police Force said yesterday that the incident was no longer under investigation, but any new information would be followed up.
The Queen and her husband are said to be unaware to this day that anything untoward happened.
The Lithgow Plot, as it was known, occurred midway through the couple's state visit as they travelled from Sydney across the Blue Mountains on the Commissioner's Train.
On April 29, 1970, the train entered a winding cutting near Lithgow then struck a large log which had been wedged across the rails.
The log became stuck under the front wheels and the train slid for almost 200m before coming to a halt at a level crossing, still on the tracks and largely unscathed.
Police suspected it was an act of sabotage designed to kill or injure the Queen, who had just celebrated her 44th birthday, and her husband.
Mr McHardy, who was in charge of the Lithgow police force for 11 years, said if the train had derailed it would have crashed into an embankment.
He said a security ''sweeper'' train checking the line an hour before the Queen's arrival had found nothing, which led him to deduce that the culprits must have had knowledge of the official train's schedule.
Marks at the scene suggested the log had been rolled onto the tracks and manoeuvred into position.
Australian Irish Republican Army sympathisers were among those suspected at the time of being behind the plot.
Police investigations included an inquiry into possible links with an earlier incident when detonators were placed in the path of the royal train as it approached Blackheath, The Lithgow Mercury reported.
Mr McHardy said details of the incident were covered up by authorities who put a gag on issuing any information to the media.
But the secrecy also hampered the police investigation.
''We never came up with any decent suspects because if we interviewed people we seemed to be talking in riddles,'' Mr McHardy said.
''We couldn't disclose what our inquiries were about.''
Buckingham Palace declined to comment about the alleged plot.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800333000. AAP
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