The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh continued their six-month Commonwealth Tour in Australia when they arrived in Canberra on this day in 1954, following Tours around the United Kingdom after the Queen’s Coronation. The stops in Bermuda, Jamaica, Panama, Fiji, Tonga, New Zealand and Australia were followed by visits to Ceylon, Aden, Uganda, Malta and Gibraltar.
Following their visit to Sydney, the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh arrived in the Australian Capital Canberra, where the highlight of their visit was the Opening of the Australian Parliament at Parliament House in Canberra, which was followed by a Review of 6000 members of the Australian armed forces.
Monday, 16 February was a busy day of engagements including an investiture at Yarralumla, the Queen’s residence in the capital, followed by the State Opening of the Federal Parliament which took place in the Senate Chamber of Parliament House, Her Majesty wearing her coronation dress and the star and ribbon of Order of the Garter for this momentous occasion, complimented by the sparkling Russian Kokoshnik tiara, a silver wedding gift to the late Queen Alexandra.
The Queen’s arrival in the Senate chamber was announced by the Usher of the Black Rod, J R Odgers, later a legendary Clerk of the Senate. After reading her speech, in which she noted that section 1 of the Constitution made her a part of the Parliament, the Queen reviewed a parade of 4500 members of the armed forces from the steps of Parliament House. Units of the Pacific Islands Regiment and the Royal Papuan and New Guinea Constabulary were suitably attired for the weather, marching through the puddles in sandals.
Her Majesty and the Duke then took to a dais outside Parliament to review a march past by the 6,000 men of the Australian armed forces, some of whom were cadets from the Royal Military College, Duntroon. All of the Service Chiefs joined Her Majesty on the platform.
The Queen wore her Coronation gown with Queen Alexandra’s Kokoshnik Tiara, her Coronation Necklace and Earrings, and the Order of the Garter, and gave a Speech:
When I add to this consideration the fact that I am the first ruling Sovereign to visit Australia, it is clear that the events of today make a piece of history which fills me with deep pride and the most heartfelt pleasure, and which I am confident will serve to strengthen in your own hearts and minds a feeling of comradeship with the Crown and that sense of duty shared which we must all have as we confront our common tasks…
It is, I think, fitting that I should, speaking to you today, recall to mind those elements of unity which combine in the fabric of the British Commonwealth. The great institutions of parliamentary sovereignty, a democratically controlled executive, the just and impartial administration of the law; these exist and flourish in each of the great realms which call me Queen. They have, in this century, survived great trials of war and economic hardship. And they have done so, I am proud to say, because of the great qualities of my peoples, qualities which have shown themselves through labours manfully performed, duties courageously done by men and women, sorrows sustained, and happiness earned…
Moved by these feelings, it is my resolve that, under God, I shall not only rule, but serve. This is not only the tradition of my family; it describes, I believe, the modern character of the British Crown
The following day, the Queen unveiled a 220-foot high Australian National Memorial to the United States, laid a wreath at the Australian National War Memorial and attended the Opening of University House ahead of a Banquet hosted by the Prime Minister and Mrs Menzies for the Queen (wearing the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland Tiara, Nizam of Hyderabad Necklace, and Greville Diamond Chandelier Earrings) and Duke at Parliament House
That night Her Majesty attended a State Banquet at Parliament House with the finest of foods flown in from around Australia; lobsters from South Australia, oysters from northern New South Wales, Mildura Murray cod from Victoria, strawberries from Tasmania, and suckling pigs from the capital territory itself.
The Queen also presented the Colour bearing her cipher to the Corps of Staff Cadets at Duntroon, before a Garden Party for 3,000 at Yarralumla, all ahead of the State Ball held for the Queen (in Vladimir Tiara and Cambridge Emerald Parure) and Duke at Parliament House, on the eve of the Queen’s departure.
The climax of the Queen’s 1954 visit to Canberra was the glittering State Ball held at Parliament House. The women wore ball gowns, long gloves and diamond and pearl tiaras and men sported white tie and tails. The Brazilian Ambassador was a fashion stand out in ‘gold-braided green tails and white trousers’. The guests danced in a King’s Hall transformed into a ‘ballroom of floral beauty’ and sipped champagne under the trees in the House of Representatives Courtyard.
According to the Canberra Times, the supper was ‘reminiscent of an ancient feast’ with boars’ heads, stuffed suckling pig, lobsters, pheasant, crayfish and oysters to tempt the taste buds, along with a towering centrepiece featuring the Australian coat-of-arms crafted from sugar and marzipan. The poor Queen had no opportunity to dance, being presented to a long line of the great and the good.
Trove NLA | Moadoph | APH | RoyaltyRobert
