by Monica Lindemann on 14 November, 2012
Conservators have been busily preparing for the separation of the body of the Royal Daimler from the chassis. This lift will take place in the Museum Workshop exhibition, commencing 11:50 am on Sunday 18th November, here at the National Museum of Australia in Canberra.
It seems that every time conservators do some detailed work on the vehicle they find more evidence of different aspects of its history. After the numerous desiccated bodies of rats, it was quite special to find a piece of confetti. Just one small piece, but it provides another glimpse at the past use of the vehicle. A wedding – a time of hope and joy.
Those feelings sit well with the footage we have in the Museum Workshop exhibition, of the Queen’s 1954 visit. The flag waving crowds are enthusiastic and flock to get a closer view. These days we probably only see such excitement and dedication in crowds of fans pursuing a boy band!
Conservators found a broken comb as well, but that is probably another story….
Great to see a project like this underway, I will follow it until completion.
I am the editor of the Illawarra Vintage Car Club and would like to do a story on the project for our club magazine, is it possible?
Regards . . .
Vic Weir
Hi Vic
Great to hear from you and thank you for your interest in the Royal Daimler Project. We’d love for you to include an article on this Project in the Illawarra Club newsletter. I’ll send some content and photos via your email address. The Royal Daimler is on display in the National Museum for just a short time in the current Musuem Workshop exhibition (closes 28 Jan 2013). I’d urge all your members to make the trip to Canberra in the summer break. After this she’ll return to our conservation and storage facilities for further work and will be out of public view again for some time.
On Australia Day the Illawarra Vintage Car Club members attended the celebrations in Sydney, where there was a large display of vintage and veteran cars on display, and on this day we saw a 1948 Royal Daimler, the sign on it stated that it was used by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II on their visits to Australia. It was in it’s original condition. Great to see! Pictures available.
I believe this car belongs to one of our friends in the Daimler and Lanchester Owners Club in Sydney. We were lucky enough to enjoy a visit from this “dame”, her owner and a number of other Daimlers in November. The Conservation team really appreciated having a look at a 1948 Daimler in such great condition.
Dear Vic,
That would have been my DE 36 All Weather Tourer. Built for King George VI and Buckingham Palace it was bought by the Australian Government for the Queen Mother’s tour in 1958 and then used by the Queensland government until it was sold into private ownership. Even after that it was loaned back to Government House for occasional VIP use.
Kind regards.
Peter