Queen Elizabeth II visited Australia 16 times through her 70 year reign.
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Her visits took place in 1954, 1963, 1970, 1973, 1974, 1977, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1986, 1988, 1992, 2000, 2002, 2006 and 2011.
She was the first reigning monarch to visit the country - a trip which took place in 1954.
On that first trip the Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh visited the ACT, New South Wales, Tasmania, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia, taking in 57 towns along the way.
They arrived on SS Gothic, steaming into Sydney Harbour and stayed for 58 days.
On each trip she took in a variety of places across this wide brown land - from city to country town.
She took in all aspects of Australian culture and life, from sheep farms to natural wonders such as the Great Barrier Reef, and grand events including the Olympic and Commonwealth Games.
These are just some of the memories of her trips through the main streets, and waterways, of our regions:
Lovely in lavender, Queen sailed through Canberra
Queen Elizabeth II made her 14th visit to Canberra in October 2011 and rumours were already swirling that it would be her final trip to Australia.
There have been many famous images of the Queen in the national capital but Canberra Times photographer Graham Tidy's 2011 shot of Her Majesty travelling across Lake Burley Griffin on a navy barge, from Government House to Floriade in Commonwealth Park, with Prince Philip by her side, was a moment we hadn't seen before.
It was a stunning spring day and the royal couple's short journey across the lake added to the sense of pageantry as people lined the lake shores for what turned out to be the Queen's final visit to the national capital.
'Dainty figure with a captivating smile' in Newcastle
An estimated 300,000 people saw Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip for their visit to Newcastle in NSW's Hunter region in 1954.
The 1954 tour of Australia took place just over six months after the Queen's coronation and lasted two months.
The royal couple's Newcastle visit began when they stepped off the train at Newcastle Railway Station and took in No.1 Sportsground, the showground and the steelworks.
"Familiar with her lovely features from studying hundreds of photographs, Press pictures and films, they expressed an oft-repeated saying: 'She is more beautiful than her pictures show,'" the Newcastle Herald gushed in its page-one report on February 10.
Spectators cram to catch a glimpse in Wollongong
Kicking off on February 3, in Wollongong, in NSW's Illawarra region south of Sydney, was one of the early stops on the 1954 tour.
On February 11, the Queen and Prince Philip arrived in the city, travelling down Crown Street and into town along streets choked with people keen to catch a glimpse of the royals.
This photo of the Queen accompanied by Wollongong RSL sub-branch president F Marsh gives an idea of just how many people came out.
The pair are walking down Church Street past what is now City Diggers. The spectators have left the footpath for the Queen, crowding onto the roadside as she passes.
'Proud of her beauty and graciousness' in Wagga Wagga
A special Sunday souvenir edition of The Daily Advertiser published after Queen Elizabeth II's visit to Wagga Wagga on February 13, 1954, declared it "Wagga's Greatest Day".
The front-page editorial described how the Queen "rode in triumph through the streets of Wagga" on what was a blistering summer day.
"For 145 thrill-packed minutes, the centre of the Riverina became the heart of the mighty British Commonwealth," the editorial said.
Tens of thousands of people travelled from across the NSW Riverina and lined the streets to see Her Majesty, then aged 27, and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, as they were paraded through the city.
"The lovely young Queen and her handsome Duke came, saw and conquered," The Daily Advertiser said.
Majesty moored on the Murray River
While the city of Albury rolled out the red carpet for the Queen's visit in 1988, not everything went her way.
Great emphasis had been put on the Queen's inspection of the PS Cumberoona, an $850,000 project for Australia's bicentenary.
But the monarch's planned cruise on the mighty Murray River on the NSW-Victorian border was not to be.
Former Border Mail journalist Howard Jones, who co-ordinated the paper's coverage of the royal visit, said a lack of water stymied a trip.
"The river wasn't high enough to sail the boat and the authorities said, in not as many words, that they couldn't put more water in just for the Queen," Jones recalled.
Bendigo delighted: 'She was everything we'd heard or read about'
When Queen Elizabeth II first visited Central Victoria in March 1954 she and Prince Philip made swift visits in one day to Benalla, Shepparton, Echuca, Bendigo, Rochester, Castlemaine and Maryborough.
The royal couple arrived in Bendigo by train and spent a short but eventful 80 minutes in the city.
They were taken by Land Rover observation car through the streets and were cheered by large crowds.
The Bendigo Advertiser described it as "the proudest, supremest moment this city has known".
"Like a spark to tinder, the first glimpse of the Queen set every heart aflame," the front-page coverage exalted. "And as she proceeded on her way through our homely streets, lined with multitudes from Bendigo and the North, a tumultuous greeting followed her, cascading along in advance, reverberating down the side streets."
Sharing a cuppa with 'everyone's nanna' in Ballarat
No photos and no media reports were allowed, which left The Courier with only a golden invitation and special memories of a private meeting with Queen Elizabeth II in 2000.
Former Courier editor Angela Carey fondly reflected on how momentous that cup of tea and prawn toast was more than two decades later.
The invitation had arrived via a "surreal" phone call and Ms Carey said nothing was going to stop her taking up the offer.
"She was as you would expect her to be - just like everyone's nanna," Ms Carey said.
"She was the expert at making small talk and we had the Olympics coming up in Sydney.
"All the talk at the time was how much the Queen was enjoying her visit to Australia.
"This was coming off the horrible 1990s decade for the Royal Family."
Royal blue salute in Victorian pages of history
THE front and back pages of The Standard celebrated the arrival of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip to south west Victoria in 1970 by adding a splash of royal blue to the pages - a rarity in the days of black and white papers.
The royal couple made a trip to Portland - a visit that reportedly drew crowds of up to 30,000 people.
For more than 15 minutes children cheered and waved flags as the Queen and Prince Philip passed along the procession route.
The Standard, based 100km east of Portland, reported the fans couldn't contain their excitement and broke through safety barriers as the royal car made its way from the airport, which was packed with 10,000 school children.
"As the royal car entered the park there was a tremendous wave of cheering and flag waving," The Standard reported.
Later, as the couple were being farewelled, the Duke described the scene as deafening.
Bouquets and smiles for beloved monarch in Launceston
The Queen's visit to Launceston in northern Tasmania on April 27, 1988, filled the streets with excited locals eager to catch a glimpse of the only monarch they had ever known, and who many had never expected to see in person.
Crowds flocked to Civic Square on that autumn afternoon - the perfect time for the royal visit in North Tasmania before winter sets in properly - in the centre of Launceston's CBD.
Lining the square was a thick throng of people, some waving flags, others standing on top of any object nearby to get a better view.
For three of the town's youngest members, it would mark a memorable day captured by The Examiner.
Eight-year-old Danielle Coulson, flanked reassuringly by her friends, nine-year-olds Sherryl O'Malley and Megan Saunders, broke from the crowd to offer the Queen a small bunch of flowers.
Arise Burnie, new title for old town
When Queen Elizabeth II visited North-West Tasmania on April 26, 1988, she came bearing a gift.
In a ceremony noted by The Advocate to have been a brief, three-minute affair, the Queen proclaimed the new City of Burnie.
"It gives me great pleasure to mark this occasion, Mr Mayor, to hand to you this proclamation declaring city status on Burnie," the Queen said to the then mayor, Rex Collins.
Realising, as was reported, "Burnie's long-held aspirations for city status", it was no doubt a moment of great pride for those who believed Burnie was more than a mere town.
That the region's largest centre - Devonport - was named a city by the then Prince Charles many years before may have helped encourage those aspirations, though it is difficult to say.
While the Queen and Prince Philip were said to have conversed with dozens of guests before the official luncheon, there was disappointment noted over the visit being on a tighter schedule than when they previously stopped by in 1954, with no time for a "meet the people".
No cold shoulder for Orange fridge workers
Queen Elizabeth II's 1970 visit to Orange, in NSW's Central West, wasn't without a hint of controversy.
Her Majesty visited the city's Email fridge factory, a manufacturing plant that would go on to become Australia's last refrigerator factory before closing its doors in 2016.
At the time, many thought the location was nothing more than a "dirty old factory" and the Queen would not be impressed with such an offering, certainly not in comparison to other parts of the city.
However, the Central Western Daily later revealed the Queen personally requested to visit a decentralised manufacturing facility in a regional location.
She toured inside and outside the facility, as captured by our photographers, and people from right across the region flocked to Orange to catch a glimpse of Her Majesty and Prince Philip passing by.
Royal stop draws Bathurst's biggest crowd
It was a momentous summer's day in Bathurst in NSW's Central West when Queen Elizabeth II visited the city on February 12, 1954.
The Western Times told how thousands of people gathered in the city's CBD to catch a glimpse of Her Majesty and the Duke of Edinburgh, with the crowd size later estimated to be between 80,000 to 90,000 people.
"It was the greatest crowd this city has ever known," the headline proclaimed.
So popular were the royal couple, that people began to arrive in Bathurst late Thursday night, and by midnight almost 4000 people were waiting.
"Scores of people, wrapped in blankets, slept on King's Parade in front of the dais where the civic reception was later held," the paper reported.
From dawn onwards many more thousands came into the city by both rail and road. The main highways were packed with slow-moving traffic and a series of special trains brought in another 10,000 people, mainly school children, to welcome the Queen.
A smile of delight in Dubbo
A natural smile of delight can be seen on the Queen's face, as she meets with School of Distance Education teacher John Carter in Dubbo in NSW's Central West in 1992.
It's a smile that thousands of Dubbo residents were privileged to see in person as Queen Elizabeth II and Duke of Edinburgh toured the city during a whirlwind visit.
A hot February's day saw residents lining the streets and major attractions in the town, as the Queen and Duke visited a number of places, including Taronga Western Plains Zoo, the Civic Centre and the School of Distance Education.
Children were a focus during the visit.
At the time regional director Mr Warren Pollard said the Department of Education was thrilled Dubbo's school children played such an integral role in the visit.
"Children have been involved as much as possible, to make it memorable for them," he told the Daily Liberal.
For God, Queen and country music in Tamworth
It was a day for the history books when more than 15,000 people gathered to greet the royal couple when they visited Tamworth, in NSW's northeast, on March 11, 1977.
The visit to Australia's country music capital was part of the silver jubilee tour down under.
Crowds cheered when Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth ll and Prince Philip touched down at the airport and again at Tamworth High when they visited the school.
They lined Peel Street to see the couple pass by on their way to officially open Ray Walsh House - the Peel-Cunningham County Council building, now home to Tamworth Regional Council.
In one cheeky moment a corgi was even lined up to meet Her Majesty. We wonder who the little girl is with her favourite pet and where she is now? Did she get to meet the Queen and compare corgi stories.
Kim Chappell
As regional digital editor I assist newsrooms in story best practice. I've been with ACM since 2006 in a range of roles including senior producer and digital journalist with ACM's national team. Digital specialist with ACM's Agricultural division where I started as a general rounds journalist with The Land, moving up to hold the title of chief of staff before switching to digital reporting in 2015.
