The success of a Royal Command Surf Carnival at Bondi nearly resulted in the beach being renamed Royal Bondi Beach after Queen Elizabeth II’s first visit in 1954.
A total of 16 trips by the late Queen Elizabeth to Australia, starting with the first in February 1954 by the newly crowned 27-year-old queen, changed the names of places around Australia and left behind a nation of thousands of girls named Elizabeth and a love of chicken and apricots.
Queen Elizabeth II attends a surf carnival at Bondi Beach during the 1954 tour. Veteran surfing official Ken Watson is holding her parasol.Credit:Fairfax Media
Around two-thirds of Sydney’s population – about a million people – came out in blistering heat to greet her at Farm Cove on February 3 in an event the State Library of NSW says “practically stopped the nation”. Curator Margot Riley said it was the “last great public event” before the advent of television.
The royals exceeded expectations with a packed schedule, visiting 57 towns and cities during the 58 days they spent in Australia attending 28 major programs. Events were scheduled for the morning, afternoon and evening.
“Her KPIs were tremendous,” Riley said. “How many hands did she shake, how many posies did she receive, how many trees were planted?”
There were morning teas across the nation, and the naming (and renaming) of new and old hospitals, lookouts, horse races, roads, roses, babies and sandwich fillings.
Queen Elizabeth at Bondi Beach in 1954.
Ahead of her visit to Bondi Beach on Saturday, February 6, 1954, Waverley Council renamed Marine Parade, the road next to the beach, Queen Elizabeth Drive.
Despite the heat, Queen Elizabeth stayed longer than expected at the beach. She and the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip, were reported to have shown a special interest in the 700 “colourfully dressed surfers [lifesavers] specially chosen for their physique and bearing”.
The sight of an English queen wearing a buttercup yellow frock on an Australian beach with big waves pumping caused swooning by the crowds and travelling media.
Queen Elizabeth Lookout at Katoomba in the Blue Mountains was renamed after her 1954 visit.Credit:Frank Hurley
The 71-minute visit was so successful that Waverley councillors proposed to rename Bondi as the “pleasure resort, Royal Bondi Beach”.
It failed, reports a council history of the Queen’s visit.
Before and after her visits, other places and things were dubbed Elizabeth including:
Children
When Elizabeth’s engagement was announced to Prince Philip, a long line of babies named Phillip and Elizabeth were named. The NSW Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages reported that there were more than 500 Elizabeths (fewer Phillips) born every year from 1952 to the mid-1960s.
Coronation chicken vol-au-vents during a reception to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee earlier this year.Credit:AP
Food
Chicken Elizabeth or Coronation Chicken was created for Elizabeth’s crowning. A precursor to Australia’s love of apricot chicken, it was also known as Le Poulet Reine Elizabeth. Often used as a chicken salad filling in a sandwich, the recipe took days to develop and was originally designed to fill 300 dignitaries at the Queen’s coronation. Its creator Constance Spry said over time it had become little more than chicken and a bit of mayonnaise. The Australian Women’s Weekly called it a retro favourite. Its recipe calls for a whole chicken, a kilo of apricots in syrup, curry paste, cream, watercress, parsley, tarragon and good quality mayo.
The Queen at Randwick Racecourse.Credit:Fairfax Media
Races
On the same Saturday that the royal couple visited Bondi in 1954, the pair attended Royal Randwick Racecourse for the inaugural Queen Elizabeth Stakes. Named in her honour, it is one of the richest races on the Australian racing calendar. The couple’s pace during the visit was nearly as fast as the horse that won. The Queen, a passionate horsewoman and a woman famed for her endurance, appeared to recognise another stayer in Blue Ocean and the 33-1 outsider led all the way to win the £10,000 race. According to reports in The Sun-Herald, she told Blue Ocean’s trainer Harry Darwon: “What a wonderful horse he must be to strike speed so quickly and hold it for so long and apparently increase it towards the finish.”
Lookouts
It’s often called a view fit for a queen. The Lower Lookout at Echo Point, Katoomba, was renamed Queen Elizabeth Lookout after her visit. It was where the Queen lingered 10 minutes longer than scheduled – a big deal in a busy schedule – near the Three Sisters to take in the mountains nearby. When presented with an album of scenic views by photographer Frank Hurley, who took the photo of her included in this article, the Queen said: “My mother has often told me of the rare beauty of this mountain country and today I have been delighted with it myself.” Other lookouts in her honour were created in Norfolk Island and around the world.
Roses and other plants
Gardens Illustrated recognised the Queen’s love of plants and the Chelsea Flower Show by detailing the many plants named during her reign. Several roses, camellias, rhododendrons and clematis bear her name. One of the world’s most popular roses worldwide is the Rosa ‘Queen Elizabeth’, a pink Grandiflora rose cultivar that was bred by rose grower, Dr Walter Lammerts in the US in 1954. It has won numerous awards, including “World’s Favourite Rose” in 1979.
Parks, reserves and suburbs
Queen Elizabeth Park in Croydon was renamed after her visit and there is the Queen Elizabeth Reserve in Killara. The outer northern Adelaide suburb of Elizabeth was established in 1955 and designed to attract British immigrants in South Australia to work in the nearby Holden factory.
A small exhibition featuring programs and other ephemera relating to the Queen’s visits to Australia will open at the State Library’s Amaze Gallery later this week.
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