When Queen Elizabeth stepped onto Australian soil for the frist time on 3rd February 1954, the nation was gripped by Royal fever. Over the next 58 days, she would visit 57 cities and towns, with more than 75% of the population catching a glimpse of the young monarch, and on February 18th, it was Mosman’s turn.

It was just after sunrise when the young woman aboard ocean liner SS Gothic saw Sydney Heads for the first time.

With a pastel silk scarf covering her carefully coiffed hair, the radiant 27-year-old couldn’t help but smile as the opulent steamer made its way into the world’s most spectacular harbour.

Looking west, with the misty colours of dawn revealing a coastline of unspoiled beaches and bays, the most recognised face in the world stood on the ship’s bridge, took a deep breath, and savoured her final moment of solitude before the pandemonium began.

Over the next fifty-seven days, Queen Elizabeth II would dazzle a star-struck nation on a relentless journey around Australia. The itinerary was seven capital cities and seventy country towns, covering 27,000 miles (43,452 km) by car, train, plane and boat.

Sydney’s people slept poorly on the night before The Queen’s arrival on February 3, 1954. At least half a million of them had stayed up late, preparing picnic food and laying out their finest clothes, knowing they had to hit the road before 6am if they were to get a decent view of the Monarch.

In Mosman, crowds lined the foreshore from every possible vantage point, and as the royal masthead slowly appeared, the dreamy drone of bagpipes echoed from the eastern edge of Middle Head. “The first notes of music to reach The Queen and Duke from these shores came from the Mosman District Scottish Pipe Band,” Mosman Mayor John Warre would later recall in a minute to the Council.

“Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and His Royal Highness, The Duke of Edinburgh, received such a welcome that must forever stay in their memory as an outstanding token of the love and loyalty of their Australian subjects.”

At 8:30am, the Gothic made its way around Bradleys Head to anchor in Athol Bay, prompting a thunderous roar from boats big and small on the water.
Prime Minister Robert Menzies with the Queen and Duke.

“A mighty hosanna of cheers and sirens, foghorns and whistles and an echo overhead as six RAAF Mustangs and six Vampire jet fighters gave a Royal salute to their Supreme Commander,” Britain’s News Chronicle reported, “she was here at last”.

“There were thousands of sightseers at Taronga,” Dolly Baverstock reported in the Australian Women’s Weekly, “and even the animals were excited by the crowds streaming in.”

“Spectators stretched all the way from the Harbour Bridge to the zoo, where a disused monkey pit provided a prime view of the regal visitors,” she said.

At 10:25am, after receiving Prime Minister Robert Menzies and NSW Premier John Cahill, The Queen gave the nation the moment they’d been waiting for. Wearing a white organza dress patterned with pale yellow wattle, she stepped onto the Royal Barge, bound for Farm Cove and a city hysterical with excitement.