Reflecting on the royal visit to Mount Isa as Queen Elizabeth II marks her 70-year reign

On 6 February this year, Queen Elizabeth became the first British Monarch to celebrate a Platinum Jubilee, marking 70 years of service to the people of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth.

As communities around the world celebrate this anniversary, we look back at her and Prince Philip’s royal visit to Mount Isa, 52 years ago.

In 1970, Queen Elizabeth, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Charles, Prince of Wales and Princess Anne completed an extensive tour of Australia. A notable stop on this tour was when the Queen and Prince Philip flew to Mount Isa for an overnight stay.

The royal couple stayed at Mount Isa Mines’ heritage listed Casa Grande, originally built in 1949 as an executive villa. For their visit, a suite in the house was completely refurnished and redecorated and the company purchased a new dining room table, with the tabletop constructed from a piece of cedar.

Their first function was the ‘North West 70’, a mini-rodeo held at Kalkadoon Park, which gave them a taste of outback life and was staged purely for their visit. They were treated to a display of heavy mining equipment, mining and trades floats, and six of Australia’s top rodeo riders as they competed against the eight-second clock.  

Prince Philip had specifically requested a tour of the underground operations, after being unable to spare the time on his previous visit in 1968. Dressed in white overalls, steel-cap boots, a belt, a cap lamp and a hard hat, he was escorted underground by then Mine Manager, Ken Finlay and Assistant Mine Manager, Bob Floyd and travelled in a PT-10 personnel carrier just like the underground workers used at the time.  

Prince Philip visited 16D sub-level where he watched a Wagner ST-5 mucking unit as well as 15 Level, where he saw a jumbo drilling a development face, chatted with the operator of a BUK drill and watched an ore train dump ore at a Granby Tipple.

Dressed in a pale blue dustcoat, head scarf and safety glasses, on the surface the Queen examined a special display of underground machinery, which had been arranged below the R62 Winder Tower specifically for her royal inspection.

She also visited the copper smelter and R62 marshalling area where she spoke to executive management, tradesmen and apprentices who were humbled by her curiosity and genuine interest.

Additionally, the couple visited the Royal Flying Doctor Service, School of the Air and the newly built Parkside Apartments, which are still used today to provide temporary accommodation to Mount Isa Mines’ new employees.

The visit generated so much fan-fare that more than 20,000 people across the north-west travelled to Mount Isa in the hopes of crossing paths with the royal couple.

You can read the original story featured in Mimag Vol. 2, No. 2 (June 1970).

Special thanks to local historian Barry Merrick for his contribution to this article and for his careful preservation of the Mount Isa Mines historical image collection.