what date did the queen visit australia in 1954

The 1954 Royal Tour of Queen Elizabeth II

  Queen Elizabeth II was the first, and to date, the only reigning British monarch to visit Australia. When the 27 year old sailed into Sydney harbour on 3 February 1954, she practically stopped the nation. Her arrival at Farm Cove, where Captain Arthur Phillip raised the British flag 165 years before her, attracted an estimated 1 million onlookers in a city with a population of 1,863,161 (1954 ABS Census). Those who couldn’t be there in person could listen to ABC radio’s nation-wide coverage of the historic occasion. Amalgamated Wireless Australia (AWA) helped make history when it filmed the Queen setting foot on Australian soil and relayed the footage to the Spastic Centre in Mosman – thus the royal arrival became the first televised event in Australia. 

The 1954 royal tour was a much-anticipated event. Planning had commenced in 1949 for King George VI (Elizabeth’s father) to visit Australia and New Zealand. However, a coded telegram received in October 1951 relayed the disappointing news that due to the king’s ill health and an impending operation, he would be unable to visit the antipodes as planned. Instead, the then Princess Elizabeth and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, would come in his place. Her Royal Highness was at a safari lodge in Kenya, en route to Australia in 1952, when she received the news of her father’s death. She made haste back to England and by the time she came to Australia in 1954, the princess was our queen.

At the time, the royal tour of 1954 was the single biggest event ever planned in Australia. It was organised in the days before email, facsimile and mobile telephones. Official printed programs stated that all those responsible for an event were to synchronise their watches with the A.B.C. time signals at 9am each day. During the Queen’s eight-week tour of Australia, the only glitch was an outbreak of poliomyelitis in Western Australia, which saw the Prime Minister, Robert Menzies, intervene to insist that the royal party sleep on SS Gothic and eat only food prepared on the ship (Ferrier, 1954, n.p.). 

The fierce February sun did not prevent Her Majesty from wearing her elbow length white gloves and decorative hats. Though the Australian sunlight is glaringly bright compared to England, she was rarely seen in sunglasses.

The royals visited 57 towns and cities during the 58 days they spent in Australia. They traversed the country by plane, train, ship and car from Cairns in the north, Broken Hill in the west to Hobart in the south. Their children, Prince Charles (aged five years) and Princess Anne (aged three years) did not accompany them on the exhausting trip.

During their ten days in New South Wales, they attended 28 major programs, with events scheduled for the morning, afternoon and evening.  Queen Elizabeth’s days varied from the cultural – watching a surf life-saving demonstration at Bondi Beach; to the civic – addressing 107,000 school children at three outdoor venues; to the constitutional – opening a session of parliament. The crowds were tumultuous, the press was effusive in its praise and every street the royals paraded along was festooned with decorations. 

The Library holds an extensive collection of original photographs of the visit which capture many official and candid moments. Below is a small selection - you can view three albums of photographs through our catalogue .  Dr George Bell donated a collection of photographs from the Queen's visit to Broken Hill, which have also been digitised.

Collection of photographs of the Royal Tour, 1954

The State Library’s collections relating to the 1954 royal tour include invitations, entry tickets, commemorative school exercise book covers, orders of service, menus and timetables. These ephemeral items would usually be thrown away after the event. They show the detailed planning that went into the royal visit, which aimed to give as many people as possible the opportunity to see ‘their queen’. 

Since her first visit in 1954, Queen Elizabeth II has visited Australia another 15 times. 

The Library would like to thank volunteer Anne Munro for typing all the original hand-written captions for the photographs.

Ephemera items from the Royal Tour, 1954

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The 1954 royal tour

A royal visitor.

On 3 February 1954, the steamship Gothic arrived in Sydney Harbour, carrying the first reigning monarch to visit Australia – Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Prince Philip. In just under 2 months, the royal couple would travel around Australia by train, car, and plane. They would visit almost every capital city except Darwin, and 40 country towns. Among the revellers, children turned up en masse to view the royal couple, and some even participated in official events. 

A tremendous task

In Sydney, an estimated 120,000 children and their teachers gathered in Centennial Park, the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) and the Sydney Showgrounds. The Herald reported transporting the students took 80 trains, 209 trams and 214 busses. At the SCG, students were organised into concentric circles so that the royal couple’s Land Rover could pass within 24 feet (7.3 metres) of most of the children. The children were issued coloured streamers attached to short sticks called ‘wavers,’ which came to life at 11:40 am when the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh entered the cricket grounds. An enthusiastic roar accompanied the rush of excitement. 

Similar gatherings took place in other large cities. For example, a children’s pageant was held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The pageant included children from 6 to 18 years of age, marching, performing callisthenics, and maypole dancing while wearing colourful costumes. As the grand finale, the children formed the word ‘WELCOME’, and the Queen and Duke boarded a Land Rover so that they could drive among the performers. At this point, some exuberant children broke free of their ranks, swamping the royal car and briefly stalling its progress. Finally, the amused Duke ordered them to clear the way.

'OUR QUEEN'

The formation of words by children in tableaux performances occurred across Australia. In Brisbane and outside of Parliament House, they formed the phrase ‘OUR QUEEN.’ At the Wayville Showgrounds in Adelaide, they formed the word ‘LOYALTY’ and at Manuka Oval in Canberra, ‘WELCOME.’  Throngs of people, keen to catch a glimpse of the nation’s sovereign, greeted the royal couple everywhere they travelled. Their journey and activities were meticulously recorded and compiled by film director Colin Dean and his team. The footage formed the first colour full-length feature film made in Australia. Included is a section devoted to the children’s contribution to the celebrations, capturing the young audience's enthusiasm. 

The Queen in Australia (feature film)

The aftermath

While the effort to put on these displays was enormous, time spent with the children was extremely short. Although the royal couple were only in Canberra for 4 full days, the Queen's schedule was unrelenting. It included opening Parliament, unveiling the Australian-American Memorial, opening Union House at the Australian National University, and laying a wreath and planting a tree at the Australian War Memorial. They also attended Manuka Oval for the children’s welcome, only to depart 30 minutes later. 

Records held by the National Archives include detailed communications, maps, and diagrams used in the organisation of royal events. The day was likely exhausting for the young participants, with many students arriving at the events hours before they were due to commence. A photo from our collection shows exhausted muddy revellers, slightly dishevelled yet still clutching and waving their commemorative flags.   

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SNAPSHOT: The 1954 Royal Tour

Princess Elizabeth was en route to Australia, via Kenya, when she received news in February 1952 of the premature death of her father, 56-year-old King George VI. She hastily abandoned her trip but visited Australia two years later as the newly crowned Queen Elizabeth II, the first and only reigning British monarch ever to do so. That 1954 visit was the first of 16 royal tours by the Queen to Australia but was, by every measure, the most successful – and resoundingly so. Royal fever gripped the postwar nation, which seemed to fall, en masse, under the spell of the young queen. During the two-month sojourn it’s estimated that more than 7 million Australians – 70 per cent of the population – attempted to see Elizabeth and her consort, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh.

In Sydney, 1 million residents reportedly thronged the harbour foreshore and lined the city streets, waiting for hours just to glimpse the royal couple following their arrival on 3 February 1954 at Farm Cove aboard the royal barge.

During the following 58 days, the pair visited 57 towns and cities across the country on an exhausting program of public engagements and community and sporting events. They saw natural wonders such as the Three Sisters in the Blue Mountains and the Great Barrier Reef, and watched surf carnivals and gymnastics displays. They met Indigenous leaders, war veterans, farmers and factory workers and hordes of schoolchildren. Australia presented itself as a confident and vigorous young nation with seemingly boundless resources. It was forward-looking while still valuing its strong bonds with the motherland.

It wasn’t until the Queen’s next tour, in 1963, that Prime Minister Menzies famously quoted the poetic phrase “I did but see her passing by, and yet I love her till I die”. But he was already feeling effusive in 1954, and avowed his most profound and passionate feelings of loyalty and devotion to the throne in an article in The Sydney Morning Herald .

Formal celebrations for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee – 70 years on the throne – the first British monarch to reach such a milestone, will take place in the UK across the long weekend 2–5 June 2022. Among the events and celebrations here in Australia, the Queen’s Jubilee Program is providing up to $15.1 million in grants to eligible groups and organisations for community-based tree-planting programs.

For more information, see The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee 2022 .

All photographs by Max Dupain/Courtesy of the State Library of New South Wales

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• The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995) View title info
• Sat 7 Feb 1953 Prev issue Next issue Browse issues
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16 visits over 57 years: reflecting on Queen Elizabeth II’s long relationship with Australia

Associate Professor of English, Flinders University

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Giselle Bastin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

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“Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God Queen of Australia and Her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth” has died. Given her advanced years, this has long been expected, yet it still seems incredible this woman who has been Australia’s queen for the duration of most Australians’ lives is no longer with us.

While the focus of the formalities and ceremony of the passing of Queen Elizabeth II will centre on London and the UK, there is no doubt it will be keenly observed by many Australians.

The queen liked Australia and Australians. She came here 16 times throughout her reign and was, famously, on her way to our shores in 1952 when she learned her father had passed on and she was now queen.

Her visits to Australia – from her first in 1954 through to her last in 2011 – offer a snapshot of the changing relationship Australians have had with their sovereign and with the monarchy.

An enthusiastic nation

The queen’s 1954 tour took place during a time described by historian Ben Pimlott as the age of “ British Shintoism ”. Deference to the Crown was paramount in Britain and the Commonwealth, and many Australians were madly enthusiastic about their queen.

After her arrival at Farm Cove in Sydney on February 3 1954, Elizabeth II became the first British monarch to set foot on Australian soil. The royal tour lasted nearly two months and consisted of a gruelling schedule taking in visits to every state and territory apart from the Northern Territory.

During the tour, the queen greeted over 70,000 ex-service men and women; drove in cavalcades that took in massive crowds; attended numerous civic receptions; and opened the Australian Parliament in Canberra. The tour saw Elizabeth travel 10,000 miles by air and 2,000 miles by road – including 207 trips by car and by appointed royal trains.

It is estimated as much as 75% of the population saw the queen and Prince Philip during this tour.

No Australian prime minister has ever had a reception on this scale or exposure to so many of the country’s citizens.

A “new” and prosperous country

During her first two tours in 1954 and 1963, the Australia laid-out for display for the queen was depicted as having gone from being a small colonial settlement to a thriving economy that had ridden to prosperity “ on the sheep’s back ”.

The queen was treated to endless displays of sheep shearing, surf carnivals, wood chopping, whip cracking, and mass displays of dancing and singing by school children. Federal and state dignitaries, mayors and civic leaders from across the political divide jostled to meet and be seen with her; the country’s florists were emptied of flowers for the hundreds of bouquets presented to her by dozens of shy, nervous school children nudged gently forward by awe-struck parents.

During the early tours, Aboriginal Australians were kept at a discreet distance. Apart from a demonstration of boomerang and spear throwing, the closest the queen came to experiencing anything of Indigenous Australian culture was a ballet performed by the Arts Council Ballet titled Corroboree, with no Aboriginal dancers but dancers with blackened faces.

During the 1970 visit, the queen witnessed the re-enactment of Captain James Cook’s arrival at Botany Bay, with Cook and his crew meeting “the resistance of the Aborigines with a volley of musket fire”.

By 1973, Indigenous Australians were given a more significant role in the royal tours. Aboriginal actor Ben Blakeney, one of Bennelong’s descendants, gave the official welcome during the opening of the Sydney Opera House, and the then unknown actor David Gulpilil was among those performing a ceremonial dance.

Invited guest, not ruler of the land

As early as the 1963 tour, the nation-wide royal fervour had dimmed a little. The 1963 visit witnessed smaller crowds and fewer mass public events. When Prime Minister Robert Menzies courted the queen with the now-famous line, “I did but see her passing by, and yet I love her till I die”, the ensuing blushes – including the queen’s own – reflected many Australians’ growing sense of embarrassment at public displays and unquestioning expressions of deference.

Despite this, Menzies’ displays of public ardour saw him being granted The Order of the Thistle shortly after, a bestowal which must surely remain the envy of some subsequent prime ministers.

The 1977 Silver Jubilee and 1988 Australian bicentenary visits perhaps marked the end of a period of royal tours as overt celebrations of Australia’s ties to Britain. This new flavour of tours positioned the sovereign as an invited guest to an independent, modern and multi-cultural nation.

On her 10th tour in 1986, the queen returned to sign the Australia Act , which brought to an end the ability of the UK to create laws for Australia.

Her role as our sovereign subtly transformed from cutting ribbons and opening Parliament to signing the documents that slowly, by degrees, contributed to the cutting of Australia’s ties to the UK and the Crown.

A question of the republic

By the 12th tour in 1992, the cost of the queen’s visits to Australia were increasingly scrutinised by a public feeling largely indifferent about the royal family. The prime minister of the day, Paul Keating, was seen not so much as an entranced liege lord revelling in the opportunity to see his sovereign “passing by” as one who instead – unthinkingly – committed an act of lèse majesté by placing his bare hand on the royal back and waist as he guided her through the crowd.

The gloves, it seemed, were coming off.

The queen made it clear in her last visits to our shores that whether or not Australia should become a republic was a decision for its own citizens to make. Her official announcement after she learned of the result of the 1999 Republic Referendum confirmed this:

I have always made it clear that the future of the Monarchy in Australia is an issue for the Australian people and them alone to decide, by democratic and constitutional means. … My family and I would, of course, have retained our deep affection for Australia and Australians everywhere, whatever the outcome.

In the last decades of her life, the queen retained the affection of many. Her popularity seemed to grow in line with Australians’ increased disenchantment with their home-grown political leaders: the former prime ministers Malcolm Turnbull and Julia Gillard are right to have sensed that any discussion about an Australian republic would have to wait until after Elizabeth II’s death.

Queen Elizabeth II reigned across seven decades and her tours to Australia served as a marker of Australia’s changing relationship with the Crown as well as with its own colonial past and national identity.

Almost certainly, Elizabeth II’s reign as the stalwart, loyal, dutiful, and most cherished and admired of “Glorianas” is one we are unlikely ever to see again.

Correction: the article previously stated the queen was on her way to Australia in 1953 when she learned of her father’s death. This has been corrected to 1952.

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Six decades of royal visits: Queen Elizabeth II in Australia – in pictures

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The Queen first visited Australia in 1954 – when she became the first reigning monarch to set foot on Australian soil – and the last in 2011. The visits included motorcades, tram rides, two Commonwealth Games and plenty of horse racing

• This article was amended on 14 September 2022 to correct the locations in two captions

Fri 9 Sep 2022 01.33 BST First published on Fri 9 Sep 2022 01.31 BST

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VIDEO : Remembering the Queen's 1954 visit to Australia's capital

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Queen Elizabeth had something of a love affair with Canberra - she visited the capital more than any other city on her 16 Australian trips.

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The Queen in Australia ( 1954 )

The first colour feature made in Australia, documenting the first visit of a reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, in 1954.

Length: 68 minutes

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The Queen in Australia

Since her very first visit to Australia in 1954 to her last in 2011, Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, has captivated crowds across our nation.

Elizabeth II was the first reigning monarch to set foot on our shores and the visit was beautifully captured in the documentary The Queen in Australia . The film was designed to show that, despite post-war changes to Australia’s political, social and demographic landscapes, the nation was proud to belong to the Commonwealth and its citizens held a deep affection for their monarch.

The film shows sequences of the young Queen opening Parliament in Canberra, attending the races at Royal Randwick and enjoying a surf lifesaving carnival at Bondi Beach. Queen Elizabeth also made time to speak to isolated families via the Royal Flying Doctor Service radio. 

The Queen returned to Australia another 15 times since that tour and her ability to win over the Australian people is as strong as ever. At the NFSA we have a wealth of material documenting the monarch's official tours and this collection includes just some of the many highlights. 

Main image: Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II tours Queensland in 1970. Courtesy Queensland State Archives.

The Queen In Australia (1954)

The first feature documentary made in colour in Australia, documenting the very first visit of a reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, in 1954.

The film was shot by a total of 16 cameramen, capturing her visits to each state capital and many regional areas over her two-month official visit. Major sequences include the arrival of the Royal Navy ship SS Gothic in Sydney Harbour, the Queen opening the 20th Australian Parliament in Canberra, attending a cricket Test in Adelaide, horse races at Royal Randwick and Flemington, tennis at Kooyong in Melbourne, and major exhibitions by schoolchildren in several cities. 

The result is a remarkable and revealing insight into our nation in the 1950s.

The Queen Returns

In February 1963, Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh returned to Australia for the Jubilee Year of Canberra.

The film follows them on their 9,000 mile tour and shows the beauty and variety of the Australian scene, and thriving development ranging from hydroelectric schemes to universities.

The Queen's Australian tour in early 1963 provides the medium for three neatly blended films illustrating the tour itself, a history of Canberra and an introduction to Australia and its people at work and play.

The main features of the tour are depicted in some detail, while in the section dealing with the history of Canberra the highlights in the development of this city are portrayed in film flashbacks. The final sections show Australians at work.

The Queen in Australia: Surf Carnival at Bondi Beach (1954)

At Bondi Beach, the Queen observes an Australian surf carnival, a gathering of teams from surf clubs around the country and New Zealand, all wearing the traditional neck-to-knee surfing costume that was required just after the turn of the century, when Australian surf clubs began.

After the traditional march past, the lifesavers take to the water to give a demonstration of rescue techniques, using both hollow surfboards and surfboats, but the heavy seas play havoc with their plans.

Notes by Beth Taylor

The Queen and Prince Philip arrive at the Sydney Opera House (1973)

The Queen and Prince Philip waving to large crowds as they arrive by car at the official opening ceremony of the Sydney Opera House on October 20, 1973.  

Heir to the Throne: Princess Elizabeth's speech on her 21st Birthday

In this clip from the 1947 film Heir to the Throne , Princess Elizabeth made her most famous pledge, which still rings true today: ‘I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.’

Written by journalist for The Times and royal correspondent Dermot Morrah, the speech was delivered on her 21st birthday while she was on a three-month tour of Southern Africa with her parents, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, and sister Princess Margaret.

While seated in the grounds of Tuynhuys in the shadow of Table Mountain in Cape Town, the young Princess used the medium of radio and film, to confidently communicate to her future subjects that the priority of her future reign would be of service to her country and the Commonwealth.

One would argue that The Queen has kept this promise tenfold. During her reign she has been patron of over 600 organisations and charities, attended thousands of official engagements and toured every country in the Commonwealth.

Summary by Michelle Davenport

HM Queen Elizabeth II - A Christmas message to the Commonwealth

HM Queen Elizabeth II delivers the 1952 Christmas message.

Schoolchildren celebrate The Queen's Coronation

This newsreel item from 1953 shows the activities of schoolchildren in Australia anticipating the coronation of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth on 2 June 1953 .

In Melbourne, we see schoolchildren looking at an exhibition of dolls dressed in royal regalia. The proceeds from the exhibition are going to the Queen Elizabeth Child Health Centre.

At Newport in Sydney, children – resplendent in carefully constructed replica gowns – re-enact the coronation in the grounds of their school.

At Fort Street School in Sydney, 11-year-old Kay Hogden is confidently reciting her speech, the recording of which is promptly flown to London and broadcast on the BBC before the coronation.

Queen Elizabeth opens Victorian Parliament (1954)

Sir Robert Menzies' home movie collection includes this footage of the Royal tour in 1954.

It shows the arrival of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, by car outside the Parliament of Victoria on 25 February 1954. They alight from the car and walk up some stairs on the red carpet past a guard of honour and surrounded by a huge crowd. The clip ends with a close-up of the Royal Standard flag.

Ex-servicemen rally at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (1954)

This home movie clip by Sir Robert Menzies, begins with an excited crowd at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

They stand and take off their hats on the arrival of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, by car to the stadium. They drive past children waving flags and they meet the official party. They are lead up onto a stage where they address the crowd.

Dedication of the Shrine of Remembrance (1954)

Sir Robert Menzies' home movie footage of Queen Elizabeth II arriving with Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, at the Shrine of Remembrance, Melbourne.

They walk through the crowd to the forecourt where they commemorate those who served in the Second World War by the Eternal Flame. Ex-servicemen and children also arrive for the dedication of the shrine forecourt. The Australian flag is shown hanging next to the Union Jack. 

Royal Silver Jubilee Exhibition Train (1977)

A look back to 1977 and the touring museum of 700 years of British history that was the Royal Silver Jubilee Exhibition Train.

The film shows many of the exhibits and the stories behind them, and follows the progress of the train's 11,250 kilometre trip throughout Australia hauling what was then valued at $100 million worth of treasures.

The bullet that killed Lord Nelson, Queen Elizabeth I's gloves, Princess Anne's wedding dress and Nell Gwynn's silver bellows were among the exhibits on this four-carriage train, the first mobile museum of its kind in the world.

Over a period of four months the train visited 26 centres between Brisbane and Perth and this film records the unique and ambitious project. 

Queen Elizabeth at Flemington races (1954)

Home movie footage by Sir Robert Menzies of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, and their arrival at Flemington horse races. Queen Elizabeth II watches the race through her binoculars, a close-up of the official party is shown – including Menzies on the right – and then they leave by walking down a path amongst the crowd.

The Queen officially opens the Sydney Opera House (1973)

Queen Elizabeth II with other dignitaries including Prince Phillip on stage, for the opening ceremony of the Sydney Opera House on 20 October 1973.

The ceremony included a display of fireworks and a performance of Beethoven's Symphony No 9. Thousands of people celebrated the ceremony along the shoreline and in boats on the harbour, while another 3 million people all over the world viewed the proceedings on television.

Jubilee and Beyond: Her gracious Majesty (1977)

Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, and His Royal Highness, The Duke of Edinburgh, visit Victoria in 1977. We see them disembark from their plane to be greeted by dignitaries and a crowd of children waving flags. They move through the crowd, stopping to talk to particular children.

Eighteen thousand schoolchildren greeted the Royal visitors that day, giving a sense of the relationship between Australia and the UK at this time.

Jubilee and Beyond: Reign over us (1977)

A crowd of eighteen thousand people greet the Queen in Royal Park Victoria in 1977. The royal party stands on the dais while 'God Save the Queen’ is sung by the massed crowd. The royal party then drive, waving, through crowds of cheering children to the strains of 'Waltzing Matilda’.

Waterloo: Queen in Waterloo

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh officially open the Housing Commission’s tower blocks in Waterloo. Residents’ furniture was removed from four units and temporarily replaced with hired new furniture before the royal couple inspected the units. The residents’ furniture was returned after the visit. Summary by Damien Parer .

Seven News Perth: Great Aussie BBQ for The Queen

Seven News reporter Chris Reason follows Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip for the final day of their 11-day tour of Australia in 2011 on which they are treated to the most Australian of traditions. The big Aussie barbecue on the Swan River foreshore attracted tens of thousands of well-wishers, with people of all ages coming out to catch a glimpse of the Royal couple.

Before addressing the crowd, the Queen and Prince Philip stopped by the barbecues and spoke with volunteers who were cooking up sausages to raise money for charity.

Heir to the Throne: Young Elizabeth

Excerpt from the BBC film Heir to the Throne , showing Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret with their parents. 

Queen Elizabeth II Coronation - Souvenir film and Cineviewer

Original cardboard box with an image of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the title The Film Story of the Coronation.  

Inside is a red marble effect hand held film strip cine viewer, a 35mm film strip of The Crown Jewels  and a 35mm film strip of The Coronation of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2 June 1953 Westminster Abbey London .

Menzies RG: Our Coronation Tour - Coronation and procession

This clip from a home movie, filmed by Australian Prime Minister, Sir Robert Menzies, shows Queen Elizabeth II arriving at Westminster Abbey in a horse-drawn carriage. She alights from the carriage surrounded by her Maids of Honour and enters the Abbey. The Groom of the Robes delivers the Robe Royal of Pall cloth of gold with the Stole Royal to the Dean of Westminster, who, assisted by the Mistress of the Robes, puts it upon the Queen. The Lord Great Chamberlain fastens the clips.

The Archbishop of Canterbury gives the Sceptre and then the Rod with the Dove to the Queen. The Archbishop then lowers a crown onto her head then kisses her right hand. The Duke of Edinburgh then ascends the steps of the Throne, and having taken off his coronet, kneels down and places his hands between the Queen’s and says the words of Homage. Then Her Majesty leaves the Chapel wearing her Crown and bearing the Sceptre and the Orb.  Summary by Elizabeth Taggart- Speers .

Glass slide of Queen Elizabeth II

This hand-coloured glass cinema slide shows The Queen in one of her first official portraits as taken by society photographer Dorothy Wilding.

She is wearing the Diamond Diadem, a necklace gifted to her as a wedding present by the Nizam of Hyderabad and finished with a brocade gown designed by couturier Norman Hartnell. Hartnell created her wedding dress and would eventually design her coronation dress.

The Queen is presented as elegant and refined, yet fresh and youthful: the fitting monarch for a post-war age. The slide was shown prior to film screenings and was one of the many ways the Queen made her image accessible to her subjects across the Commonwealth.

More to explore

Platinum Jubilee of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II

A selection of films, artefacts and documents from the NFSA collection showcase the life of Britain’s longest reigning monarch.

Remembering Queen Elizabeth

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II has passed away at the age of 96. After 70 years of service, we pay tribute to our longest reigning monarch.

The Royal Family in Australia

From Bondi Beach surf carnivals to Parliamentary openings, explore some rare footage from our collection of the Royal Family in Australia. 

The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia acknowledges Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we work and live and gives respect to their Elders both past and present.

Enter the NFSA Our Statement of Reflection

State Library membership gives you access to free apps, ebooks, audiobooks, resources and so much more.

• Aboriginal stories
• ANZAC stories
• Maps and charts
• Death and Dying
• Game Changers
• Rare Stories from the West
• Small towns & regional cities
• SLWA on ABC Radio
• Humans of the Library

Queen Elizabeth II in WA 1926 -2022

Queen Elizabeth ll was the first reigning monarch of Australia to travel the country, first visiting WA in 1954, with her last visit in 2011.

She captured the hearts and minds of everyone in our state, with more than 25 000 school children gathered from Fremantle to Guilford when she left Perth for her visit to Albany.

Below we have a gallery of images of Queen Elizabeth ll visiting Western Australia. A video of Queen Elizabeth ll and Prince Philip touring Western Australia in 1954. A list of catalogue items including photos, ephemera and maps relating to all of Queen Elizabeth ll visits to WA.

Video of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip visiting W.A. in 1954

Watch this video on the SLWA catalogue .

Catalogue items

Digitised photos.

• Perth decorated for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth, 1952
• Royal visit arrival at Perth Airport, 1954
• The 1954 royal visit to Perth
• Streets decorated for the royal visit to Perth, 1954
• Royal visit arrival at Kalgoorlie, 1954
• Royal visit arrival at Northam, 1954
• Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh driving past a highland pipe band at the Busselton Showgrounds, Western Australia, during the 1954 Royal Tour
• Ceremonial arches decorate St George's Terrace, Perth for the visit of HM Queen Elizabeth II, 3 April 1954
• Perth decorated for the Royal Visit, 1954  
• Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip travel through Claremont during their visit to Perth, 18 March 1954
• Royal visitor’s tableau for Flower Day, 1954
• Garden Party at Government House, 1954
• William De Neefe painting 'Governor's Ball for Queen Elizabeth II visit to Australia' in Perth, March 1954
• Radios and record players in Nicholson’s window display for the 1954 Royal Visit
• Decorative street lighting for 1962 Royal Visit and the Empire and Commonwealth Games
• The 1963 royal visit to Perth
• Queen Elizabeth II at an Investiture Ceremony in the Government House Ballroom 7 October 1981
• Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh leave Perth, 9 October 1981
• Queen Elizabeth II officially reopening Forrest Place after a major refurbishment, 1988.
• Queen Elizabeth II arrives in Perth for CHOGM, 28 October 2011

List of ephemera items related to the 1963 Royal Visit.

List of maps and plans relating to the Royal Visit of Queen Elizabeth II, to Western Australia, 26 March to 1 April 1954.

Physical Photographs

Physical photos yet to be digitised which you can request to view in the Leah Jane Cohen Reading Room .

• A street in Perth with decorations for the royal visit of Queen Elizabeth II who is just visible in the back of a car
• Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip visit Western Australia, 1954
• Royal Visit, 1977 and Big Bell Gold Mine, 1937
• The Big Aussie Barbecue, the final event of CHOGM, on The Esplanade, Perth, 30 October 2011