Queen Elizabeth II was the first, and to date, the only reigning British monarch to visit Australia. When the 27 year old sailed into Sydney harbour on 3 February 1954, she practically stopped the nation. Her arrival at Farm Cove, where Captain Arthur Phillip raised the British flag 165 years before her, attracted an estimated 1 million onlookers in a city with a population of 1,863,161 (1954 ABS Census). Those who couldn't be there in person could listen to ABC radio's nation-wide coverage of the historic occasion. Amalgamated Wireless Australia (AWA) helped make history when it filmed the Queen setting foot on Australian soil and relayed the footage to the Spastic Centre in Mosman, thus the Royal arrival became the first televised event in Australia.

The 1954 royal tour was a much-anticipated event. Planning had commenced in 1949 for King George VI (Elizabeth's father) to visit Australia and New Zealand. However, a coded telegram received in October 1951 relayed the disappointing news that due to the King's ill health and an impending operation, he would be unable to visit the antipodes as planned. Instead, the then Princess Elizabeth and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, would come in his place. Her Royal Highness was at a safari lodge in Kenya, en route to Australia in 1952, when she received the news of her father's death. She made haste back to England and by the time she came to Australia in 1954, the Princess was our Queen. Queen Elizabeth II visited Australia a total of 16 times, but this was the major one, The Royals visited 57 towns and cities during the 58 days they spent in Australia. (info from State Library NSW page - Steve).

I recently downloaded an image of A65-123 that had been used to transport the Royals during the 1954 visit. The image included a caption on the bottom 'NAA; C5731 xxx' which I recognised as meaning it was a part of the C5731 grouping on the NAA (National Archives of Australia) website. Being aware of how to access such items I had a look at the C5731 grouping, finding that it included 86 images taken during the Royal visit, many prominently featuring C-47 V.I.P airframes used. There were many of A65-90, 94 and 123 which were the main airframes involved plus single examples of A65-108 that PM Menzies used to travel to Perth to greet the Royals on arrival (all these had V.I.P interiors and operated with the V.I.P flight of 34 Sqn), plus A65-112 and A65-84 (no info on what those airframes were used for, possibly carrying staff members, ground crews or press).

I will not go into great detail here but just present the images which tell there own story.

A65-123

Security Guards mounted on A65-123 at Mount Gambier airstrip South Australia. Despite what it may look like, the airframe is mostly Aluminium doped with White above the line of the windows. The vertical tail and rudder are also painted White. It has the usual Dark Blue fuselage stripe with the QE II insignia on the nose. The other two airframes (A65-90 and 94) were also painted the same.

Here is a table with the remaining A65-123 files.

A65-90

A65-90 starting engines with the Duke's Ensign flying

Here is a table with the remaining A65-90 files.

A65-94

A65-94 at Salisbury South Australia

Here is a table with the remaining A65-94 files.

A65-108

Crew of A65-108 which brought Mr Menzies to Adelaide. Notice that this one is in a different colour scheme, with the division of the White area being much lower down. Also no QE II insignia on the nose, and the 'Royal Australian Air Force' titling.

Crew of A65-112 taken at Guildford airport WA

Here is a table with the remaining files, which mostly cannot be identified to a particular airframe due to the angle they are taken from.

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