Kodak camera from Queen’s 1954 visit, Townsville’s handwritten condolences
This Kodak was purchased in 1954 to take a picture of the Queen. Did it ever capture its elusive target?
Townsville
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In a Charters Towers home sits an old box Kodak camera which attempted to capture history.
Alf Williams re-discovered the camera during a recent deep clean of his home.
He purchased it in 1954, right before the Queen sailed into Townsville.
At the time, Mr Williams was a 21-year-old and Queen Elizabeth II was a sprightly 28.
“When I heard the Queen was coming to Townsville, I wanted to take a picture,” Mr Williams said.
“I can’t remember if I actually got a picture of her. I probably didn’t. What I definitely remember is I absolutely used this camera on my honeymoon.”
He might have missed the Queen, but the camera is still a piece of history for Mr Williams who went on to capture extensive flood damage with the Kodak in Charters Towers.
The Racecourse Rd resident said the camera remains in working order.
“If a person could buy the film for it, she would still go,” he said.
“I like holding onto things like this. It’s a memory.”
As a young man Mr Williams worked as a fruit and vegetable seller, gardening outside town and driving the produce house to house.
“All the women were home in those days,” he said.
“You’d park on the road and they’ve come from the houses on both sides to see you.”
In 2016 the Townsville Bulletin did a story on a local woman who unearthed a lost photograph taken by her mother during the 1954 royal visit.
Mr Williams is far from the only North Queensland resident who will always hold Queen Elizabeth firmly in his heart.
People from across Townsville have handwritten condolence letters, which have since been collected and bound into a book and posted to Buckingham Palace.
The handwritten notes were bound into a single book by professional bookbinder Jennifer Telfer of Dakini Bookbinding.
Ms Telfer said knowing the book she made was now in the hands of the royal family made her feel “part of history”.
“I did have a read through of the messages while I was putting the book together,” Ms Telfer said.
‘There were some very beautiful, poingnet messages. Some short and sweet. Others you could tell someone poured a lot of time into.”
Mayor Jenny Hill said those who signed the books of condolences came from “all walks of life and many age groups”.
“Queen Elizabeth visited Townsville twice during her reign,” Cr Hill said.
“Firstly in 1954 just a year after her coronation and again in 1970 when she signed the Royal Assent on the Bill that created James Cook University.”
During her 1954 Australian tour, the nation’s newspaper were filled edge to edge with Royal coverage.
The Northern Miner was no exception.
On February 4, when the Queen landed in Sydney, her portrait made the front page of the Charters Towers paper alongside these words: “She looks incredibly young, fragile and far more beautiful that any photograph shows.”
Hidden further down the story was the mention of “2000 casualties” after ambulance bearers treating 2075 people who were injured in the Sydney crowd waiting to see the Royal procession.
“Cases ranged from simple faintings to heart seizures and broken legs,” the report said.
Another interesting detail was the filming of the Queen’s royal landing.
According to the report, two cameras televised her movements live to 14 viewing screens installed in the children’s ward of the nearby “Mosman Spastic Centre”.
“It was Australia’s first actual television program,” the report read.
Television was introduced to Australia in 1956 - two years after the Queen’s first visit.
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Originally published as Kodak camera from Queen’s 1954 visit, Townsville’s handwritten condolences
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