Last Monday was Queen’s Birthday Holiday in Australia (excluding WA and QLD) so in this post wanted to recall the Queen’s visits to the country. Many members of the British Royal family visited Australia, you can read more in my previous post. The early royal tours stretched over months, full of official events such as civic receptions, state banquets, agricultural shows, processions and the laying of foundation stones. Yet Queen Elizabeth II was the first reigning monarch to set foot on Terra Australis in 1954. The Queen has visited the country 16 times, usually on important milestones, anniversaries, or celebrations of Australian culture, while other royals participated in lesser occasions.
Princess Elizabeth was en-route to Australia when her father King George VI died in 1952 and she returned to England. In the year after her succession to the throne, Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip embarked on a grand tour of the Commonwealth. Part of it was a visit to Australia. The main aim of the tour was to thank commonwealth for support during World War II and to introduce the new Queen to her subjects.
They arrived in Australia on 3rd February 1954 and in her speech the Queen said: “I have always looked forward to my first visit to this country but now there is the added satisfaction for me that I am able to meet my Australian people as their Queen. (…) Standing at last on Australian soil, on this spot that is the birthplace of the nation [Farm Cove, Sydney], I want to tell you all how happy I am to be amongst you and how much I look forward to my journey throughout Australia” [Brisbane Telegraph]
The Sydney Morning Herald reported: “Her Majesty the Queen landed at Farm Cove at 10.33 a.m. yesterday and received the most tumultuous greeting Sydney has ever given any visitor. It was a historic occasion because this was the first time that a reigning monarch had visited Australia. (…) Police estimated that 1,000,000 people lined the city streets and Farm Cove. At least another half million manned every foreshore vantage point from the Heads to the Bridge in perfect weather.”
It was a large-scale tour, during the two months in Australia the Queen visited every capital city (except Darwin), and many regional and rural centres. It allowed about 75 percent of the population to see the new Queen. Australia was fascinated by their young, glamorous, but approachable monarch. News of what she wore, the events she attended and whom she met made the front-page. Cinemas across the country screened footage of the Queen’s activities.
Her love for informal walks while on tour have helped Her Royal Highness to form a special bond with people. On one occasion during her 1963 visit the Queen unexpectedly visited a hospital and had a chat with women who just recently gave birth. “There is nothing more exhilarating than being with people who are having a wonderful time” said the Queen as reported The Australian Women’s Weekly in 1963. The Queen’s eagerness to chat with everyone from national leaders to awed children has won her to generations.
Wherever the Queen arrived she was greeted by a mass of people. “Melbourne turned on a warm welcome for the Queen at the start of her 36-hour Silver Jubilee visit to Victoria today. It was the biggest, loudest and warmest reception the Queen and Prince Philip had received since they arrived in Australia 10 days ago. Tens of thousands of people stood 10-deep behind barricades the length of Elizabeth and Swanston Streets to welcome the Royal couple to Melbourne.” informed The Canberra Times in 1977.
When Queen Elizabeth II officially closed the Commonwealth Games in Brisbane 1982 she was driven around the stadium while the Australian team formed a guard of honour running alongside the car.
“All those who visit it will take away lasting and affectionate memories of the warm welcome extended by the people of Brisbane and Queensland. I say that with great confidence because each time I come here I am made to feel truly welcome. I am told you like to call your state the Sunshine State – but I prefer to think of it by its original name – “Queen’s Land” said the Queen at the opening ceremony of the Expo 1988 in Brisbane.
Her Majesty has returned Australians affection in countless ways, most recently in the summer of 2011, when she attended a Queensland Government Reception for those affected by the natural disasters during the summer of 2010/11.
