Machines | Royal visit to Ballarat (1901)

In 1901 The Duke and Duchess of York, later King George V and Queen Mary, visited Melbourne to open Australia’s first federal parliament. Their visit was captured by cinematographer Ensign Sidney Cook, a projectionist for the Salvation Army’s Limelight Department, working for the Victorian Government. On 13 May the Duke and Duchess visited Ballarat. They looked over the South Star Mine and laid the Boer War Monument’s foundation stone at the corner of Sturt and Grenville Streets, later removed to outside the Town Hall. The footage taken by Cook is our oldest glimpse of an Australian provincial city. NFSA title 229620