In 1954, Queen Elizabeth II’s nationwide visit created as much frenzy in the small community of Canberra as in the rest of the country. The President of the Senate gave up this sitting room to the Queen during her five-day visit in 1954. When Her Majesty came to Old Parliament House, she used it to get some privacy. New furniture was made especially for her visit. It has been known as the Queen’s Room ever since.
People flooded in from all around the region for her first royal tour. Throughout the country people took part in parades, displays, guards of honour and tableaux. They all flocked to see her as many times as they could. The tour included 26 banquets, 158 long speeches, 141 speeches by the Queen, 999 investitures and 13,213 handshakes.
‘We were standing under the awning of a hotel in Toowoomba. As the Queen came around the corner in her open topped Daimler, the late afternoon sun flashed in her face. We could read her lips. “Bloody Hell, the sun!” she said and put up her umbrella.’
But the national capital was the scene of the most historic and solemn occasion of her popular and successful tour. Here, in Old Parliament House, she made history as the first reigning monarch to open our Commonwealth parliament.
The President of the Senate gave up this sitting room to the Queen during her five-day visit in 1954. When Her Majesty came to Old Parliament House, she used it to get some privacy. New furniture was made especially for her visit. It has been known as the Queen’s Room ever since.