THE WAY WE WERE

ROYAL TOUR: For Queensland’s Centenary Year celebrations in 1959, the member of the royal family chosen for the tour was 22 year old H.R.H. Princess Alexandra of Kent, cousin of Queen Elizabeth II. The Queensland leg of her six-week Australian tour from August 18 to September 9, took her to Brisbane where she officially opened the RNA Centenary Show, unveiled a mural on the State Library of Qld in William Street, declared the new Anzac House (new RSSAILA headquarters) open and was conferred an honorary law degree from the University of Queensland. From Brisbane, she went to Warwick, Toowoomba and Oakey before doing a tour of western and northern Qld and back down the coast visiting many towns along the way (a 3000 mile tour). Such was her popularity that when she returned to Brisbane from the tour, the streets were lined with 200,000 people from Redcliffe to Government House to welcome her “home”. In 1960, the Diamantina Hospital was renamed Princess Alexandra Hospital in honour of her visit. The Alexandra Waltz was written and composed in her honour by prolific Queensland composer, Clyde Collins. With me being only an eight-year-old schoolgirl at the time, I have a vague recollection of the day (August 25, 1959) that all the pupils of the Oakey State School lined the footpath outside the school to wave to Princess Alexandra as she was driven passed on her way from Toowoomba to the Oakey Airport where she had a guard of honour of local Scouts and Cubs as she boarded her plane to be flown to Charleville. The photo on the left was on the cover of the July, 1959 School Paper prior to her tour and the second photo is the cover of the Australian Women’s Weekly, August 19, 1959 when she was in Brisbane.