Page 66 - Tropic Magazine Issue 38

TROPIC • CAIRNS HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Queen’s visits

REGIONAL HISTORY
The late Queen Elizabeth II
visited Far North Queensland
three times during her tenure,
with crowds welcoming
her with open arms on
every occasion. 2

Words: Renee Cluff
The first time a reigning Monarch “A cry went up of ‘there she is, that’s her.’
had ever set foot in Cairns was Queen “Her Majesty came down the gangway
Elizabeth II. It was a Saturday in 1954 and history was made. As the destroyer gathered
and throughout the night and early “It was possible to follow the Royal speed and slipped away,
morning, a large crowd had gathered. progress along Abbott Street by
Hundreds slept on the Esplanade and the cheering.” the Queen suddenly leaned
cars were bumper to bumper, forming Cairns Mayor Bill Fulton was among over the rail and waved to
traffic congestion the city had never those to greet the Royal couple and later
before seen. It was estimated that a crowd his daughter, seven year-old Cheryl the crowd with a radiant
of 40,000 turned out to see the Monarch ‘daintily mounted the steps to the Royal smile that went to the
over her two-hour visit. 70 people had to stand and with charming confidence
be treated at first aid stations along the presented the Queen with a spray of hearts of those who
Royal procession route after collapsing. flowers. She then curtsied to the Duke were watching
The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh had and earned the applause of spectators.’
travelled to Cairns on the destroyer At the Showgrounds, the Queen Cairns Post,
HMAS Anzac and then jumped into presented awards to local leaders, before 1954
a royal car which had been specially being entertained by a Torres Strait
flown up. “First news of the Queen’s Island dance and maypole dancing by They lined the route to the wharf and
approach came from a group of children of Cairns and District schools. were able to exchange a few words with
spectators on the Esplanade who 19 chiefs from Papua New Guinea, all her as she departed.
had been staring out to sea,” a newspaper dressed in tribal finery, also came to Far North Queensland wouldn’t see the
report said at the time. Cairns to see the Queen. Queen again until 1970, when she visited
Cooktown and unveiled a memorial
stone on the site where the Endeavour
landed. Again, crowds lined the foreshore
of the Endeavour River, including local
Aboriginal people alongside leaders
dressed in colonial costume.
In 2002, she returned to Cairns for
another brief visit, riding the Skyrail
down from Kuranda before attending
a fire lighting ceremony and meeting
performers at Tjapukai Aboriginal
Cultural Park. In a symbol of just how
long she was Monarch and the social and
political changes that occurred during
her reign, the centre has most recently
become a venue where native title
decisions are announced and celebrated.
1. 2002 visit. Credit: Dept Prime Minister & Cabinet
2. 1954 visit. Credit: Queensland State Library

In partnership with the
Cairns Historical Society

MORE: cairnsmuseum.org.au
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66 • Tropic • Issue 38