Australian
Screen

Clip description

This clip shows Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh arriving in George Street, Sydney, on Wednesday 3 February 1954. They are greeted by a huge, excited crowd. The Queen lays a wreath on the cenotaph at Martin Place.

Curator’s notes

Sydney was the first destination in the Queen’s 1954 visit to Australia, and there was a great deal of anticipation and excitement preceding her arrival. In this clip we see the pride of the PMG at the time, the Sydney GPO, as well as an array of other city buildings, festooned and decorated in honour of the visit. Most of the buildings in the Sydney CBD had been decorated for the occasion. Two nights before the arrival of the Queen, all the royal tour decorations were illuminated for the first time. On that night, an estimated 200,000 people and 20,000 cars had filled the city streets to view the spectacle.
On the day of the Queen’s arrival, she landed at Farm Cove at 10:33am. It was a perfect summer day, and at least half a million people positioned themselves on every foreshore vantage point between North and South Heads and the Harbour Bridge. From there, they watched the Royal Yacht, the Gothic, sail into Sydney Harbour and viewed the Queen stepping off the royal barge at Farm Cove. In this clip, we see the royal motorcade make its way down George Street to Martin Place. It was estimated that a million onlookers lined the city streets. The footage gives an indication of the thrill and exhilaration felt on the occasion, not just by the crowds of spectators, but by the media personnel involved. At Martin Place the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh place a wreath on the cenotaph, and receive a tumultuous cheer.