The visit by the newly crowned Queen Elizabeth and Prince of Wales to Tasmania in 1954 was an incredibly exciting event for the a community still very much tied to Britain. The film below describes it as Tasmania’s ‘day of all its years’.
Glenorchy was not yet a city, still a semi-rural municipality, but rapidly growing as an industrial hub with large manufacturing and processing plants, such as the Electrolytic Zinc Company’s smelting works, Cadbury’s chocolate factory, Titan Manufacturing’s wire factory and Silk and Textiles fabric printing business all employing many workers.
Glenorchy Council was keen to display its strengths as a modern and forward thinking municipality, and saw a futuristic arch, built collaboratively by its key industries as a fitting tribute to the new Queen.