by Heidi Bock on 31 May, 2012
As I have just joined the Museum, I have been exploring and discovering the interesting facts about the 1954 Royal Tour and this majestic Daimler.
In 2004, we held an exhibition called Royal Romance that examined Australia’s passionate response to Queen Elizabeth II’s first visit in 1954, and whether the nation has fallen out of love since.
It is incredible to see the effort that went into the 1954 Royal Tour.
| 510,000 | pounds approximately in total contributed by the federal government |
| 500,000 | miles registered by the cars of Royal Visit Car Company |
| 200,000 | pounds contributed by the federal government for the use of the yacht Gothic |
| 200,000 | people filled the streets in the city Sydney when decorations for the Royal Tour were illuminated for the first time |
| 96,475 | pounds spent by the federal government on decorations and illuminations for Australian towns and cities visited by the Queen |
| 20,000 | cars participated in the gridlock that choked the city of Sydney when decorations for the Royal Tour were illuminated for the first time |
| 10,000 | air miles travelled by the Queen |
| 10,000 | cartons of canned fruit from Shepparton taken aboard Gothic |
| 5000 | cartons of tomato juice taken aboard Gothic |
| 3237 | bags of milk powder taken aboard Gothic |
| 3200 | passengers travelled by air during the Royal Tour |
| 2000 | road miles travelled by the Queen |
| 1500 | cases of canned meat taken aboard Gothic |
| 600 | hours flown by the RAAF |
| 363 | flights made by the RAAF |
| 257 | civil air flights |
| 207 | car journeys made by the Queen |
| 130 | hours spent by the Queen in motor cars |
| 100 | speeches made by the Queen in towns and cities she visited |
| 57 | hours spent by the Queen in aeroplanes |
| 35 | air flights by the Duke |
| 33 | air flights by the Queen |
| 20 | tons of freight in total for civil air passengers |
| 5 | engagements per day |
See more on the Royal Romance exhibition.
I’m looking forward to visiting the workshop next week and seeing the Royal Daimler for the first time.
