[Royal Visit, Victoria, 1954: Pre-Release Footage: Reel 20]

The 1954 visit to Australia of newly-crowned Queen Elizabeth II with her husband and consort Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, was a cause of much celebration - and an occasion for much pageantry - in Victoria. Elizabeth was the first reigning monarch to visit Australia, and the young and popular royal couple attracted intense interest wherever they visited on their extensive Australian tour.

This silent, pre-release footage - much of which eventually comprised sections of the official Victorian film release - follows the visiting couple on their journey throughout the state; including numerous regional centres as well as major sites and events in Melbourne. It shows not only the “official” portrait of this historic royal visit, but also dwells on the reactions of the Victorian people; crowds of whom waited by roadsides and railways, on city streets and in small country towns, for a glimpse of the monarch.

As well as focusing on the history of the 1954 royal visit, the footage thus also gives us a unique and invaluable look back in time at some of the buildings, streetscapes, vehicles, cameras, fashions and crowd behaviours of the mid-1950s in Victoria.

Reel 20 shows us more footage of the royal couple’s departure and also includes footage of the royal visit to Mildura.

Detailed Description Reel 20:

Opens with footage of the preparations for, and the departure of the royal couple from Essendon Airport (this appears to be a continuation of the footage that ends Reel 19 (B2003243). 00:03:40:00 plane takes off. 00:03:51:00 Title “Visit to Mildura Thursday, 25th. March 1954” followed by shots of river, boats and weir. 00:04:52:00 scenes of vineyards, a ‘floral carpet’ and dais decorated with grapes. 00:05:05:00 Girl Guides, Scouts and Cubs marching down street, followed by assorted children in street clothes (including one possibly indigenous girl, noteworthy as Aboriginal people are very rarely seen in the crowds in all of the Royal Visit footage). 00:05:53:00 Queen’s plane lands (in Mildura) and the Queen and Philip are greeted by the waiting officials and crowd, before the Queen waves to the crowd from a decorated dais. 00:07:13:00 Queen and Duke, standing in back of an open car, are driven through cheering crowds. 00:07:58:00 an family of Aboriginal people are seen waving (it is unclear if they are in the same area as the rest of the crowd). 00:08:18:00 close-up of Queen getting out of car. 00:08:28:00 on dais at a public sportsground or park. 00:08:57:00 footage of grape harvesting, followed by Queen and Duke visiting a private property to observe the harvest.