Queen Elizabeth II 1954 Royal Visit to Busselton Badge

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c. 1954

Subcollections

Overview

Small red, white and blue badge that celebrates the visit of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip to Busselton on 30th March 1954. The badge features oval black and whit photographs of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip flanked by the Union Jack and the Australian Red Ensign.

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-124-2024.93

Item type

Themes

Material

Width

3 cm

Inscriptions and markings

ROYAL TOUR 1954
BUSSELTON
MARCH 30TH

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

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