The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh continued their six-month Commonwealth Tour in Australia when they arrived in Sydney on this day in 1954, following Tours around the United Kingdom after the Queen’s Coronation. The stops in Bermuda, Jamaica, Panama, Fiji, Tonga, and New Zealand were followed by visits to Australia, Ceylon, Aden, Uganda, Malta and Gibraltar.
The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh arrived in Australia at Sydney, where they alighted from HMS Gothic at Farm Cove and were greeted by Governor General Field Marshal Slim ahead of a Procession through the city. Lady Pamela Mountbatten recalled:
“There was a tumultuous welcome from the crowds as a shower of streamers, rose petals, and confetti was thrown down from the roofs and windows or straight into the cars by those in the crowd who were near enough. The city was wonderfully decorated, with endless varieties of triumphal arches, including arches made to look like giant crossed boomerangs and even one immense, slowly rotating sham tree trunk.”
The highlight of the visit to Sydney, was the Queen (wearing Queen Mary’s Lover’s Knot Tiara and Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee Necklace) opening the New South Wales Parliament, where she delivered a Speech:
Honourable members of the Legislative Council and members of the Legislative Assembly, I am very pleased that I am able to speak to you in person on the occasion of the Opening of the Third Session of the Thirty-seventh Parliament of the State of New South Wales. My long cherished hopes of visiting, with my husband, my people in Australia are now being realised.
The welcome accorded to us on our arrival yesterday was so cordial and spontaneous that we shall always remember it. I desire to express my appreciation to you, and through you, as their representatives, to all the people of this great State. I look forward with pleasure to the rest of my stay in Australia.
This is the first occasion on which the Sovereign has been able to open a session of an Australian parliament. It is most fitting that this should take place in the Mother Parliament of Australia which had its birth over one hundred and thirty years ago, and in a building which has served as a Legislative Chamber for almost a century ever since New South Wales was granted responsible Government. Measured in terms of recorded history these periods are short, but they cover a large proportion of the period of one hundred and sixty-six years since the first British settlement in Australia. Nowhere else has Parliamentary democracy demonstrated more effectively its soundness and its adaptability to changing times and needs than in this young and rapidly advancing country.
My Ministers are giving close attention to matters of importance to the contentment and prosperity of my people in New South Wales, and they will submit their legislative proposals for your consideration. I now leave you to the discharge of your important duties with the earnest prayer that under Divine Guidance your labours may further advance the welfare and happiness of all
The Queen (in the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland Tiara, King George VI Festoon Necklace, and Greville Diamond Chandelier Earrings) and Duke attended a Banquet hosted by the Premier of New South Wales Joseph Cahill, with the Queen wearing a mimosa gold tulle Norman Hartnell gown patterned with an Australian wattle plant motif in gold.
The Lord Mayor hosted a Ball in honour of the Queen (wearing Queen Alexandra’s Kokoshnik Tiara and the Nizam of Hyderabad Necklace) and the Duke of Edinburgh at the Sydney Town Hall. Lady Pamela Mountbatten recalled:
“In fact so much so that at the Lord Mayor’s Ball I was asked to dance, and when I returned to the dais, instead of pushing and shoving my way back, I asked a dignified-looking gentleman if he minded if I passed in front of him. Glaring at me in fury he said, “I most certainly would, young lady. You haven’t a hope in hell of queue barging here.”
The Queen (wearing the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland Tiara and King George VI Sapphire Suite) also attended a Gala Performance at the Tivoli Theatre in Sydney, hosted by the Premier of New South Wales and his wife.
Before the Queen and Duke departed for Canberra, there was a Garden Party held at Admiralty House following a demonstration at Bondi Beach.
“In Sydney we attended a garden party for eight thousand people at Government House. As usual, several minutes before the queen and Prince Philip were scheduled to emerge to greet the guests, the equerry and I went to stand outside the bedrooms so that the second they emerged we would form a little procession. The queen was always punctual, but this time we waited and waited. No one came to tell us why there was a delay and no one had the faintest idea as to what was causing it. But as soon as the queen came out of her bedroom, I could see why.
She looked fantastic, and very different from usual. Instead of the customary Norman Hartnell tight waist and full skirt, she was wearing a sophisticated, pencil-slim white lace dress designed by Hardy Amies. The new look was completed by a black cartwheel picture hat with a transparent brim around which lay four brightly colored feathers. Apparently the delay was caused by the milliner, Aage Thaarup’s, large label, which had been clearly visible and was tricky for Bobo to remove. When the queen appeared on the terrace there was an audible gasp from the assembled guests. The Australian fashion correspondents were completely beside themselves and went into a frenzy.”
Great article as always 🙂 I always have such a difficult time sorting out all the glittering events that took place during the late Queen’s first visit to Australia as the country’s monarch. It was indeed a magnificent tour. I am, however, wondering if one of the photos (the one where the Queen has just been escorted down a flight of stairs) referring to the Banquet hosted by the Premier of New South Wales Joseph Cahill is not actually taken at a different event. The Queen doesn’t seem to be wearing the Greville Chandelier earrings in this one (compared to the other photos in the same “grouping”). The fact that she is escorted by a different man than the NSW Premier is also a sign that this was taken at an even where the NSW Premier was not the host.