31 October 1867        Royal Visit

The first royal visit to South Australia, that of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, was made into a great occasion. In the afternoon of 31 October 1867 the Prince came ashore from his ship Galatea at Glenelg promptly at 2 pm and set out in a procession of cavalry and carriages containing the hierarchy of Adelaide to an official reception at the Town Hall. A triumphal arch 30 feet wide and 35 feet high had been erected as the south-west corner of the city and an even larger one, in all 90 feet wide and 40 feet high, at King William Street and Victoria Square, covered in green boughs and decorated with flags, bunting and garlands of flowers. Even shop-keepers not on the royal route had entered into the spirit of the occasion and put up flags and bunting, lamps and flowers over their premises. The highlight at the Town Hall was an enormous star 25 feet across and lit by gas. The Mayor, Mr Fuller, in his address to the Prince, no doubt echoed the sentiments of the citizens of Adelaide when he said:

Though separated from Great Britain by many thousands of miles, we have lost none of our attachment to the mother country.

The colony of South Australia was only 31 years of age and still felt strongly the ties with England.

Thomas Worsnop, History of the City of Adelaide, 1878, pp.275-83