Since 1867, there have been over fifty visits by a member of the Royal Family to Australia, though only six of those came before 1954. Elizabeth II is the only reigning monarch of Australia to have set foot on Australian soil; she first did so on 3 February 1954, when she was 27 years old. During her sixteen journeys the Queen has visited every Australian state and the two major territories.
The first member of the Royal Family to visit Australia was Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, son of Queen Victoria, in 1867.
The trip was fraught with disaster. Prince Alfred arrived onboard the HMS Galatea, which he was also Captain of, as part of Prince Alfred's world cruise On 31 October 1967, he landed at South Australia and spent three weeks there. He toured South Australia, then attended the funeral of one of his ship's crew, who accidentally drowned at Glenelg. He then departed for Melbourne on the 22nd, and was met by Governor of Victoria on board the Victoria, who escorted the Galatea back to Melbourne. He officially landed on the 25th. [1]
During the welcome ceremonies, 10,000 people gathered to meet him. An image of William of Orange defeating the Catholic armies at the Battle of the Boyne was erected on a hall in Melbourne. Someone fired shots from inside the hall into the Irish Catholic crowd who had gathered outside to throw stones at the hall, a Catholic boy was killed, and a riot between Irish Catholics and Protestants subsequently broke out. [2]
On the 27th, the public banquet the Prince was supposed to attend broke out into rioting after Prince Alfred cancelled his attendance, concerned about security. In then visited Geelong, where large crowds gathered, leading the organising committee to flee. [2] Prince Alfred then visited Bendigo, where a wooden model of the Galatea was erected as the center of a fireworks display. Three boys climbed into the model and burned to death when fireworks they let off set it on fire. A ball was then planned in the newly opened Alfred Hall, named in his honour. It caught fire and burned to the ground before the ball. [2]
Prince Alfred then left for Tasmania on the 28th November. He arrived in Hobart on the 6th of January, and was met by the steamship Southern Cross and escorted down the Derwent River. Hobart lit enormous bonfires on the hills around the city to mark the occasion. Prince Alfred's visit to Tasmania was relatively uneventful. He laid the foundation stone of St David's Cathedral, and several events were held in his honour. He was then taken by road to the north of the state, and stayed at the country estate of Robert Kermode, Mona Vale. He then visited Ross, Campbell Town, Cleveland, Perth and Launceston, [3] where he planted trees in Prince's Square and turned the first sod for the construction of the Launceston railway terminus. [4]
Prince Alfred then visited Sydney for a tour. During his tour of the Australian Museum, the Colonial Secretary, Henry Parkes produced a live snake, and the museum curator Gerard Krefft, produced a 'Timor Mongoose', which subsequently ignored the snake. Parkes then produced another mongoose from a bag, which attempted to escape before fighting and killing the snake for the Prince's entertainment. The Prince then kept the mongoose as a pet, and took it with him when he left Australia. [5]
Prince Alfred then departed for Brisbane. Upon his return to Sydney in March, the Duke was shot by Henry James O'Farrell in an assassination attempt while picnicking on the beach in the Sydney suburb of Clontarf, on 12 March 1868. The Duke recovered fully and continued on to New Zealand seven months later. [2]
Prince George of Wales, aged 15, visited Australia with his elder brother, Prince Albert Victor of Wales, aged 17, in 1881, as midshipmen in training on HMS Bacchante. They arrived at Albany, Western Australia in May, crossed to South Australia in a passenger vessel, travelled overland to Melbourne and from there sailed on a naval vessel to Sydney.
In 1901, Albert Edward, Prince of Wales and his wife Alexandra were planning an Empire tour. However, the death of Queen Victoria on 22 January 1901 meant that the couple had to prepare for a coronation in 1902. Consequently, Edward's son Prince George, Duke of Cornwall and York, and Mary, were assigned to undertake the voyage instead. Arriving at Albany, Western Australia, on SS Ophir, they sailed to Melbourne, where he opened the first Australian federal parliament. The royal couple later travelled by train to Sydney. They visited Queensland from 20 to 25 May, where they laid the foundation stone of St John's Cathedral (Brisbane). [6]
Edward, Prince of Wales arrived in Victoria on 26 May 1920, representing his father, George V (previously Prince George, Duke of Cornwall and York), to thank Australians for their participation in the First World War. He was accompanied by Lord Louis Mountbatten.
During the tour, his railway carriage overturned near Bridgetown, Western Australia. [7] [8] However, the Prince remained unharmed and made light of the situation, emerging from the wreck with some important papers and a cocktail shaker, an act which endeared him to Australians and caused them to give him the nickname the "Digger Prince". [9]
In 1926, Prince Albert, Duke of York, and wife Elizabeth had their first child, Princess Elizabeth—"Lilibet" to the family—who would later become Queen Elizabeth II. The following year they undertook a Royal Tour without the baby. Queen Elizabeth was, in her own words, "very miserable at leaving the baby". [10] Their journey by sea took them via Jamaica, the Panama Canal and the Pacific; Elizabeth fretted constantly over her baby back in Britain, but their journey was a public relations success. [11] In New Zealand The Yorks enjoyed the local fishing [12] in the Bay of Islands accompanied by Australian sports fisherman Harry Andreas. [13]
When they sailed into Sydney harbour on HMS Renown, they attracted Australia's first gathering of more than one million people. The principal duty of the Prince on this visit was to open the provisional Parliament House in Canberra, on 9 May 1927. They spent 12 days in New South Wales, seven in Queensland, four in Tasmania, eleven in Victoria, six in South Australia, six in Western Australia and three in the Australian Capital Territory, with the remaining 10 for travelling and recreation.
According to a report by the director-general of the royal visit, Cyril Brudenell White, "the Royal Visitors had expressed the wish that when travelling through the States they might have opportunities of seeing and of being seen by, the greatest number of the general public. They especially desired to meet returned soldiers, new settlers and school children."[ citation needed ] On 9 May, Prince Albert reviewed over 2,000 Australian troops with various air squadrons flying overhead. One aircraft, piloted by Flying Officer Charles Ewan, crashed, killing Ewan.
Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester the third son of George V, visited for an extensive 67-day tour in 1934, (4 October – December), the main purpose being to open the centenary celebrations of Victoria on 18 October. He arrived on HMS Sussex at Fremantle, then travelled by train to Adelaide and ship to Melbourne. He also visited the Australian Capital Territory, Tasmania, New South Wales and Queensland. While in Melbourne, the Duke dedicated the Shrine of Remembrance on 11 November and later opened the ANZAC War Memorial in Sydney on 24 November 1934. He sailed to New Zealand from Brisbane, before returning to England.
Prince Henry served as Governor-General of Australia from 20 January 1945 – 10 March 1947, the first and only royal Governor-General of Australia.
On 6 March 1948 it was announced that the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth would embark on a royal tour of Australia and New Zealand the following spring, accompanied by their daughter Princess Margaret. Plans were already well advanced when, on 23 November, it was announced that the tour would have to be cancelled owing to the King's declining health. An attempt to reschedule the tour, in scaled-back form, for early 1952 also foundered and plans for Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip to visit instead were put on hold when the King died in February of that year. [14]
Elizabeth II was the first reigning monarch of Australia to set foot on Australian soil, coming ashore at Farm Cove, Sydney, on 3 February 1954. She had two years earlier been en route to Australia when her father died while she was on a private visit to Kenya, forcing her to return to the United Kingdom. Once finally in Australia, with her husband the Duke of Edinburgh, she undertook a journey through the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Tasmania, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia, including greeting 70,000 ex-servicemen and women at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and opening the Australian Parliament in Canberra. In all, the Queen travelled 10,000 miles by air, making approximately 33 flights, 2000 miles by road (130 hours in cars in 207 trips), visiting all capitals except Darwin and 70 country towns, many by special "royal trains". [15] On one such train trip they visited Leuralla, at Leura, in the Blue Mountains. Twenty-seven years earlier, Harry Andreas of Leuralla had acted as a fishing guide for the Queen's parents, [13] whilst the young Princess "Lillibet" was left at home with her grandparents, King George V and Queen Mary. This extensive travel allowed some 75 per cent of the Australian population to see the Queen at least once during the tour[ citation needed ]. At the conclusion of the tour the Prime Minister, Robert Menzies, stated in an article published in the Sydney Morning Herald :
"It is a basic truth that for our Queen we have within us, sometimes unrealised until the moment of expression, the most profound and passionate feelings of loyalty and devotion. It does not require much imagination to realise that when eight million people spontaneously pour out this feeling they are engaging in a great act of common allegiance and common joy which brings them closer together and is one of the most powerful elements converting them from a mass of individuals to a great cohesive nation. In brief, the common devotion to the Throne is a part of the very cement of the whole social structure." [16]
In 1956, the Duke of Edinburgh opened the Olympic Games in Melbourne, and opened the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Perth, while on a tour through Western Australia, New South Wales and the ACT. In 1965 he opened the Royal Australian Mint, and in 1968 went to Australia to open the Duke of Edinburgh Study Conference.
Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother visited in 1958 to attend the British Empire Service League Conference in Canberra. She travelled to the Australian Capital Territory, Brisbane, [17] Sydney, Melbourne, Tasmania, Adelaide and Perth, as well as many provincial and country areas during the time of her visit 14 February – 7 March.
Princess Alexandra of Kent visited in 1959 for Queensland's centenary celebrations. She arrived at Canberra and travelled to New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and the Northern Territory.
Planned as a less formal tour than the one in 1954, the Queen and Prince Philip returned in 1963, touring all the states and territories, with the primary purpose being to lead the Canberra jubilee celebrations commemorating the 50th anniversary of the naming of the capital. During this trip she also toured the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia base in Alice Springs. In preparation for this tour, Sir Roy Dowling, the Queen's Australian Secretary for the visit, was warned about Northern Territory mosquitoes. Dowling was warned, "You could be placed in an extremely embarrassing situation if the Queen's skin was marked and if the press published pictures and stories about those marks."[ citation needed ] Cities and towns visited included Sydney, [18] Canberra, [19] Darwin, [20] Kununurra, [20] Perth, [21] Adelaide, [22] Brisbane, [22] Coolangatta, [22] and Koolan Island. [23]
Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent, who died in 1968, visited between 26 September and 8 October 1964 for the British Exhibition in Sydney and to open the new Gladesville Bridge. She travelled in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory before leaving, with a brief stop in Brisbane on the return flight.
Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester and his wife Alice visited the Australian Capital Territory, Victoria, New South Wales, Tasmania and Queensland between 20 March and 26 April 1965. The new Tasman Bridge was opened by the Duke in Hobart. He also opened the Royal Easter Show in Sydney and a hydro-electric power station in the Snowy Mountains.
Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother attended the Adelaide Festival of Arts as its patron, and opened Flinders University, also travelling to Western Australia, the Snowy Mountains and the Australian Capital Territory between 22 March and 7 April 1966.
Charles, Prince of Wales attended the Timbertop campus of Geelong Grammar School for one term in 1966. This was not an official trip as the Prince was there primarily for schooling. A press release of 10 January 1966 made this clear, stating that he should be left alone by journalists: "The Prince of Wales will be engaged in full time study in Australia and will not undertake any official engagements. The Queen and the Commonwealth Government have requested that the Prince's visit should be treated as a private one and that he should be allowed the same freedom from public attention as any other schoolboy."[ citation needed ]
He returned in 1967 as the Queen's representative at the memorial service for Prime Minister Harold Holt, and again in 1970.
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh helped in 1967 to organise the third Commonwealth Study Conference to be held in May 1968. He travelled to the Australian Capital Territory, Victoria and Tasmania, where he helped volunteer fire fighters to fight a local fire.
Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and his wife Katherine made a 25-day tour between 9 August and 3 September 1969, of the Australian Capital Territory, South Australia, the Northern Territory, Western Australia and Queensland as well as Papua New Guinea. The Duke opened the South Pacific Games in Port Moresby on 13 August.
The Queen, Prince Philip, Charles, Prince of Wales (for part of the tour only) and Princess Anne made an extensive tour of Australia in 1970 in connection with the bi-centenary of Captain James Cook sailing up the east coast of Australia in 1770. This was a very popular tour and large crowds turned out to see the Queen. One large gathering occurred when the royal yacht HMY Britannia sailed up the Brisbane River, mooring just below the historic Newstead House in Brisbane. In January 2009, a retired police detective revealed an unsuccessful attempt to derail the Royal Train near Bowenfels, New South Wales on 29 April 1970. [24]
The Queen returned to Australia again in 1973 to open the Sydney Opera House and also in 1974 to open the Australian Parliament in Canberra. This time the Queen returned to London on 28 February for a General Election in Britain, cutting short the tour, which the Duke of Edinburgh completed.
An extended royal tour of Australia was made in 1977 as part of the Silver Jubilee of Her Majesty's reign.
Prince Charles made a brief visit in May 1978 to attend the funeral of former Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies. Wearing the full dress uniform of a commander of the Royal Navy, the prince read from the book of Ecclesiasticus chapter 44: "Let us now praise famous men . . .". He arrived and departed at Tullarmarine Airport in Melbourne aboard a RAF VC10. [25] [26] [27]
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In the 1980s the Queen made short tours to open the new High Court of Australia building in 1980 as well the City Square in Melbourne, then again to open the new National Gallery of Australia in 1982 and the Parramatta Stadium in 1986. During the 1986 visit, at a ceremony held in Government House, Canberra, she signed a proclamation that brought into effect the Australia Act 1986, which severed the final constitutional link between Australia and the United Kingdom.
Lady Diana Spencer, later Princess of Wales, made a short private visit to Australia with her mother and step-father to their sheep station at Yass, north of Canberra, in early February 1981. Prince Charles had proposed to her less than a week before.
The Prince of Wales visited Australia shortly after the announcement of his engagement and prior to his July wedding in 1981.
The Queen attended the 1981 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), held in Melbourne in September.
On 20 March 1983, the Prince of Wales, this time with the Princess of Wales, and their son Prince William, landed in Alice Springs for an official visit. 26 October – 8 November 1985 visited Victoria for 150th anniversary of the state. This tour included visits to Brisbane and Canberra. The Prince and Princess of Wales also made a visit during the bicentenary celebrations in 1988.
The Duke and Duchess of Kent visited Queensland in April 1985 to open the Performing Arts Complex at Southbank. They visited Toowoomba on 24 April following an invitation by Steven Rafter to visit the Toowoomba Grammar School.
The Queen and Prince Philip also made a popular visit in 1988 as part of the bicentenary celebrations. On Saturday 30 April 1988, the Queen opened the World Expo in Brisbane before opening the new permanent Parliament House in Canberra on Monday 9 May.
During the bicentenary celebrations, Australia was also visited by The Prince and Princess of Wales, The Duke and Duchess of York and The Duke and Duchess of Kent.
In 1992 the Queen returned to the sesquicentenary of the incorporation of the city of Sydney. In the last years of the decade she did not visit the country to avoid being embroiled in the debate about future of the monarchy. Her next tour was timed to be made well after the 1999 referendum on the republic. The Australian government of John Howard had advised the Queen on the timing. [28]
After her divorce in 1996, Diana, Princess of Wales made one subsequent visit prior to her death in 1997.
In 2000 the Queen made an extended tour in the states of Australia which was followed by another visit in 2002 when she attended the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2002: the second such meeting held in Australia.
On 11 March 2006, Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex visited Australia to announce the winners of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize. He also had lunch with the Prime Minister, John Howard, visited a neo-natal unit in Heidelberg, visited victims of bush fires in Victoria and attended the opening and closing ceremonies of the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.
One day later, the Queen and Prince Philip arrived in Melbourne where the Queen opened the Commonwealth Games. As well, the royal couple opened a new section of the Sydney Opera House, attended a Commonwealth Day ceremony in Sydney, had official meetings with the Prime Minister, Governor-General and Leader of the Opposition at Government House in Canberra, lunched with former governors-general, met with firefighters in Canberra, attended and made a formal speech at an official dinner at Parliament House in Canberra to commemorate her 80th birthday and watched some of the events at the games.
Anne, Princess Royal attended the memorial in Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne, Victoria on Sunday, 22 February 2009, for victims of the 2009 Victorian bushfires.
On 19 January 2010, Prince William arrived in Sydney for a three-day visit to Australia. [29]
A visit was made in early 2011 by Prince William to flood damaged areas of Queensland and Victoria.
In October 2011, Queen Elizabeth II visited a number of cities in her role as Queen of Australia and Head of the Commonwealth. At a reception in her honour held at Parliament House in Canberra on 21 October 2011, the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, described the Queen as "a vital constitutional part of Australian democracy". [30] The Queen in her speech at the same reception stated that,
"It has been a difficult year for this country in many ways despite the successes. The world witnessed the anguish of Australians as they lived through a summer of national disasters. We were all inspired by the courage and resolution shown by those affected in the face of crippling desolation. Ever since I first came here in 1954 I have watched Australia grow and develop at an extraordinary rate. This country has made dramatic progress economically in social scientific and industrial endeavours and above all in self-confidence." [31]
The Queen visited Canberra, Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth during the tour. In Perth she attended the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
Prince Charles travelled to Australia in November 2012 with the Duchess of Cornwall as part of a visit to Papua New Guinea, Australia and New Zealand on behalf of the Queen of each respective Realm in the year of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. Also in 2012 Prince Edward, Duke of Kent visited from 28 January to 1 February [32] and Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester visited from 21–26 May. [33]
In October 2013, Prince Harry visited Sydney for the centenary celebrations of the Royal Australian Navy. Representing his grandmother, the Queen, he took the salute from HMAS Leeuwin alongside Governor-General Quentin Bryce. The prince made a further visit to SAS forces in Perth before departing for the United Kingdom.
In November 2014, Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, visited Australia at the invitation of The Duke of Edinburgh's International Award - Australia. He attended 18 engagements in Sydney, Brisbane and Perth. [34] [35]
In April 2014, Prince William arrived in Australia for a ten-day tour with his wife, the Duchess of Cambridge, and their son, Prince George. The family's itinerary took them to Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra, Uluru and Adelaide. [36]
Before reporting for duty to the Australian Defence Force (ADF), Harry visited the Australian War Memorial in Canberra on 6 April 2015. [37] In May 2015, Prince Harry made a farewell walkabout at the Sydney Opera House and visited Macquarie University Hospital. [38] [39] In November 2015, Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall visited Adelaide, Canberra, Sydney, Albany and Perth. [40] Prince Charles and the Duchess returned again in 2018 for events associated with the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.
In April 2018 Prince Edward visited Australia to attend the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games as Vice Patron of the Commonwealth Games Federation. Whilst in Australia Prince Edward, in his capacity as Chair of the Trustees of the International Award Foundation he attended 40 functions to support the development of The Duke of Edinburgh's International Award - Australia. Prince Edward visited Melbourne, Ballarat, Romsey, Hobart, Brisbane, Adelaide, Seppeltsfield. Prince Edward continued his international fund raising challenge playing a set of Real Tennis on every real tennis court in the world, including the 5 courts in Australia. In addition to visiting schools and youth organisations to promote the Duke of Ed, he also conducted round table meetings with the university sector, business and sporting organisations. [41] [42]
In June 2018, Kensington Palace announced that Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex would tour Australia around the time of the Invictus Games which was held in Sydney in October 2018. [43] [44] Later, Prince Andrew, Duke of York undertook a 9-day tour of the country's eastern states in November. [45] During this trip, Meghan announced that she and Harry were expecting their first child.
In September 2019 Prince Edward visited Australia to in his capacity as Chair of the Trustees of the International Award Foundation to assist celebrate the 60th Anniversary of the Duke of Edinburgh's International Award in Australia. He attended 25 functions in Sydney, Wollongong, Alice Springs and Darwin, including presenting nearly 400 Gold Awards at a ceremony held in Sydney Town Hall. [46]
The Queen visited the Cocos (Keeling) Islands in 1954 while the territory was still administered by Singapore. A visit was made to Norfolk Island in 1974.
George VI was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was concurrently the last Emperor of India until August 1947, when the British Raj was dissolved.
Alfred was the sovereign duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha from 1893 to 1900. He was the second son and fourth child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. He was known as the Duke of Edinburgh from 1866 until he succeeded his paternal uncle Ernest II as the reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in the German Empire.
Colonel-in-Chief is a ceremonial position in a military regiment. It is in common use in several Commonwealth armies, where it is held by the regiment's patron, usually a member of the royal family. The position was formerly used in the armies of several European monarchies. A Colonel-in-Chief has a purely ceremonial role in their regiment.
The Apple University Consortium is a partnership between Apple Australia and a number of Australian universities. Every two years it holds the AUC Academic & Developers Conference in an Australian city. It also sponsors subsidised seats to the WWDC conference in San Francisco each year for university staff and students.
The Australian Geography Competition is an Australia-wide competition run by the Royal Geographic Society of Queensland and the Australian Geography Teachers Association and sponsored by the National Geographic Channel. It tests the geographic knowledge of high school students from years 8-12. It starts with a written multiple choice test in early March. In the under 16 competition the winners from each state & the territories are taken as well as a runner up who has the highest score after these winners. These people are flown to Sydney at the start of June for a weekend of sightseeing followed by the national final. The winners go on to the National Geographic World Championship to represent Australia. The competition is also used to select the members of the Australian team for the International Geography Olympiad.
Australian non-residential architectural styles are a set of Australian architectural styles that apply to buildings used for purposes other than residence and have been around only since the first colonial government buildings of early European settlement of Australia in 1788.
Australia is a constitutional monarchy whose Sovereign also serves as Monarch of the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Canada and eleven other former dependencies of the United Kingdom including Papua New Guinea, which was formerly a dependency of Australia. These countries operate as independent nations, and are known as Commonwealth realms. The history of the Australian monarchy has involved a shifting relationship with both the monarch and also the British government.
The Galvatrons are a four-piece rock band who formed on 28 August 2007, in Geelong, Australia. Lead singer Johnny Galvatron stated on radio station 101.3 Sea FM on the Central Coast that the band got their name from the 1986 animated film Transformers. The Galvatrons cite their influences as Devo, Stan Bush, Australian Crawl, Van Halen, Lion, Cheap Trick, Kim Wilde, Queen, Stevie Nicks, Pat Benatar, Kenny Loggins, Tears for Fears and Gary Numan. The band have completed their debut album, as announced via their MySpace, which was released 3 July 2009.
The Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria was officially celebrated on 22 June 1897 to mark the occasion of the sixtieth anniversary of Queen Victoria's accession on 20 June 1837. It was the first ever Diamond Jubilee celebration of any British monarch in history.
Royal tours of Canada by the Canadian royal family have been taking place since 1786, and continue into the 21st century, either as an official tour, a working tour, a vacation, or a period of military service by a member of the royal family. Originally, official tours were events predominantly for Canadians to see and possibly meet members of their Canadian Royal Family, with the associated patriotic pomp and spectacle. However, nearing the end of the 20th century, such occasions took on the added dimension of a theme; for instance, the 2005 tour of Saskatchewan and Alberta by Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, was deemed to be a vehicle for the Queen and Canadians to honour "The Spirit of Nation Builders." The couple's tour in 2010 was themed "Honouring the Canadian Record of Service— Past, Present and Future." Official royal tours have always been vested with civic importance, providing a regionalised country with a common thread of loyalty.
Royal and viceroyal transport in Canada have included a variety of vehicles generally used for royal tours in Canada, and viceregal official and ceremonial duties in both the provincial and the federal spheres. The technology employed has mirrored the development of transportation since the late 17th century, when the first members of the Royal Family ventured from Great Britain to British North America. As the Canadian Royal Family is not predominantly resident in the country, those that belong to it have generally always had to make a trans-Atlantic crossing before switching to alternate over-land, water, or air transportation once in Canada.
The year 2012 marked the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II being the 60th anniversary of the accession of Queen Elizabeth II on 6 February 1952. The only diamond jubilee celebration for any of Elizabeth's predecessors was in 1897, for the 60th anniversary of the accession of Queen Victoria.
Several hospitals and former hospitals are known formally or informally as Royal Hospital or simply The Royal, indicating some form of royal patronage, such as sponsorship, usage, or creation by royal charter.
Bernard Ollis is an Australian artist and painter who lives and works in Sydney and Paris. Ollis is the former Director of the National Art School, Sydney.
Royal visits to New Zealand by members of the Royal Family have been taking place since 1869. The first member of the Royal Family to visit New Zealand was Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh. Subsequently, there have been over 50 visits. The first reigning monarch of New Zealand to visit the country was Elizabeth II in 1953–54. In all, she has visited New Zealand on 10 occasions, most recently in 2002.
Members of the British royal family have made several visits to Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia.
The Ruby Jubilee of Elizabeth II in 1992 marked the 40th anniversary of the accession of Queen Elizabeth II to the thrones of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms. Contrary to her Silver Jubilee in 1977, there were no widespread public celebrations of the Ruby Jubilee; it was a low-profile event. Also, the Queen did not undertake any official engagements. However, there were some observances to mark the milestone.
Media related to Royal visits by the Monarchy of the Commonwealth to Australia at Wikimedia Commons
