In February 1954 Queen Elizabeth II became the first reigning monarch to tour Australia.

Her Majesty travelled approximately 10 000 miles by air, occupying a period of approximately 57 hours and made approximately 33 flights. (His Royal Highness made 35 flights.)

The civil air lift, which was the greatest civil air operation in history, comprised 257 separate flights covering 1,307,459 passenger miles and carried 3,200 passengers with 20 tons of freight representing more than 1,000,000 pieces. This does not include 363 flights made by the RAAF of more than 600 hours duration…

Her Majesty travelled approximately 2,000 miles by road, spent 130 hours in motor cars, made 207 separate trips, and the cars of the Royal Visit Car Company registered some 500,000 miles.

Her Majesty visited approximately 70 country towns [in addition to all capital cities except Darwin] and made approximately 100 speeches.

This remarkable transport movement was carried out without one accident in which a car of the Royal Visit Car Company was involved, and there was not one moment’s delay in the air through any mechanical fault, nor was one piece of baggage lost, and Her Majesty and His Royal Highness discharged the whole of the functions set out in the royal visit itinerary without the need to postpone or abandon any engagement.

On the day of her arrival, the motorcade travelled down Swanston St - I stood behind the barricades with the multitudes opposite the Leviathan store, from 8 am until HM drove past at around 4 pm, on her way to Governnent House.

On another day, the Royal Train travelled into Western Victoria, and my brother and I rode our bikes from Altona to Laverton, where the train stopped for photos.

Melbourne was decorated with banners, colored lights, signs, and bunting on city buildings, with firefworks displays at night at the showgrounds.

Here are some of my own photos which I took on my Box Brownie camera when Her Majesty came to Melbourne!