Queen Elizabeth II Royal Visit to Australia mug

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c. 1954

Subcollections

Overview

Cream china mug with a gold drinking rim and transferware on two sides that celebrates Queen Elizabeth II 1954 visit to Australia. Left of the handle there is a sepia image of Queen Elizabeth embedded in the royal coat of arms. To the right of the handle the outline of Australia is draped by the Union Jack and Australian flag. Above this is a red and god crown motif.

Historical information

Elizabeth II was born Elizabeth Alexandra Mary on 21 April 1926, the first child of the Duke and Duchess of York, who became King George VI and Queen Elizabeth on the abdication of Edward VIII. She was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death 8 September 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states over the course of her lifetime and remained the monarch of 15 realms by the time of her death. Her reign of over 70 years is the longest of any British monarch, the longest of any female monarch, and the second longest verified reign of any monarch of a sovereign state in history.

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-124-2024.81

Item type

Themes

Material

Width

8 cm

Depth

8 cm

Inscriptions and markings

Below the image of the Queen is the wording

ROYAL 1954 VISIT

Between the crown motif and the outline of Australia is the wording

SOUVENIR

Within the outline of Australia is the wording

ROYAL VISIT
AUSTRALIA

Below the outline of Australia appears

1954

Contextual Information

On 3rd February 1954 the steam ship Gothic, carrying the 27-year-old Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Philip, berthed in Sydney Harbour. At a time when the population of Sydney was 1.8 million, an estimated 1 million well-wishers were there to welcome the first reigning British monarch to set foot on Australian soil. Those who couldn’t be there listened on ABC national radio and for those lucky few with television it was the very first televised event in Australia.

Planning for this royal visit started in 1949, when it was anticipated that King George VI would venture down under. However, the king's visit was postponed due to his ill health and when the visit finally eventuated Queen Elizabeth II had ascended the throne after her father’s untimely death.

At the time the 1954 royal tour was the largest event that had ever been planned in Australia. The royals visited every capital city except Darwin and 40 country towns, including Busselton, during the 58-day tour. They travelled by plane, train, ship and car from Cairns in the north, to Perth in the West and to Hobart in the south. Imagine doing this without our modern technologies!

Queen Elizabeth II visited Busselton on two occasions, once in 1954 and then again in 2000.

Keywords

Year

Primary significance criteria

Social or spiritual significance

Busselton Historical Society

Organisation Details
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