[Royal Visit, Victoria, 1954: Pre-Release Footage: Reel 23]

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 23 contains footage of the children’s display at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (also seen in Reel 8).

Detailed Description Reel 23:

The whole Reel is devoted to footage of the children’s display at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (also seen in Reel 8, B2003230). 00:02:32:00 the Queen and Duke are seen getting out of car and walking across the grass, before the camera returns to the athletics, dancing, marching and costumes of the assembled children. There are also scenes of the children relaxing and playing games when not ‘performing’ on the MCG.