Advertisement

Broken Hill remembers the Queen’s 1954 visit

Photo: ABC

Photo: ABC

This week’s Royal tour is bringing back memories of the Queen’s high-profile visit to the remote New South Wales city of Broken Hill more than 60 years ago.

Back in 1954 the city was fuelling the nation’s economic growth and the population was increasing, there were job opportunities and new houses were being built.

As Margot White remembers it, “it was a very exciting day for the entire community. It was a beautiful sunny day”.

Palace warning: snappers risk being shot
Queen does “Nazi salute”
Charlotte’s country christening

Mrs White had just turned 21 and in the days prior to the visit she surveyed where the Queen would travel, even down to the “comfort stop” Her Majesty would take at the Zinc Corporation guest house.

The Queen’s visit saw Mrs White darting all over the city.

“We stopped by a pipeline, so we had to leave the car there, hop over the pipeline and be there before she arrived,” she said.

“We were there unnoticed, the cameras started clicking. She passed by just slowly walking and I felt I could have reached out and touched her we were so close.”

Mrs White said she was able to have “a good long look at her frock and her hat and her manner”.

queen elizabeth australia visit

The Queen went to Broken Hill in her two month Australia visit. Photo: ABC

“I thought of her as a beautiful young lady, only tiny, and the responsibility she had and the commitment she made on her coronation,” she said.

“She set the example for the rest of my life on how to behave.”

Forty thousand people turned out in Broken Hill to welcome Queen Elizabeth, some travelling hundreds of kilometres from neighbouring towns and communities.

The whole city was decorated by local artists, bands marched through the streets, and patients were rolled out in their beds onto the hospital verandah to catch a glimpse of Her Royal Highness.

At 19, Don Mudie was an apprentice electrical fitter at Broken Hill South Limited and remembers everyone having the day off work.

Mr Mudie was on his motorbike with a mate when the entourage passed.

He said the whole city came together that day and in the weeks and months beforehand.

“Everyone put their best into it, shall I say from left to right, from the union movement to business, to the city council and the mining companies,” Mr Mudie said.

“It was an auspicious occasion, irrespective of what your views were. It was an eminent person paying a visit to Broken Hill.

“I like to think that people who possibly had a negative view of Broken Hill suddenly realised they can really do things here.”

At 90, Beryl Keenan still lives in the same house where the front verandah proved a marvellous vantage point to view the Queen’s motorcade.
“All my friends and relatives gathered here because she drove down the street in an open car. They had a party. I and my husband Joe went off to meet the Queen,” she said.

“We were delighted because out bush you don’t get a lot of things, so when they were coming to Broken Hill everyone was pleased.”

Mrs Keenan’s husband was an alderman on the council, she had just had her second baby and was worried about leaving him at home with family to join a very the long line to meet the Queen.

“I had to curtsy. I can’t remember whether she said anything to me, I think she just smiled. I thought how beautiful she was, her skin, she was just beautiful,” she said.

Photo: ABC

Ms Keenan remembers she had to curtsy to the Queen. Photo: ABC

It was a visit that was to see Broken Hill catapulted into the international spotlight.

A visit to the Flying Doctor Service and a chat over the wireless to a young mother on a remote property was followed by an address by the Queen which was broadcast around the world.

Mr Mudie said “the world got to know Broken Hill”.

For the Flying Doctor Service it was a turning point.

“The Flying Doctor Service was given the royal command, the royal assent to use the prefix ‘royal’, so our name changed and of course that gave us international recognition,” Broken Hill Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) business manager Sue Williams said.

In the hangar at the Broken Hill RFDS headquarters there is a new plane recently bought with millions raised by the “Friends in the UK” and on the nose of the aircraft is a painting of patron HRH The Prince of Wales.

Inside the Broken Hill RFDS museum is the 1950s chair the Queen sat on, with gold embossing of her initials.

“And she sat on that chair and made that broadcast to the world,” Ms Williams said.

– ABC

Stay informed, daily
A FREE subscription to The New Daily arrives every morning and evening.
The New Daily is a trusted source of national news and information and is provided free for all Australians. Read our editorial charter
Copyright © 2024 The New Daily.
All rights reserved.