 |
| The Less Than Amiable Prince Alfred |
Prince Alfred was the second son
of Queen Victoria and her German husband Prince Albert. In 1868, he made a much anticipated visit to
the Colony of Queensland. Committees had
been formed to plan the celebrations.
The visit would not quite what
they expected.
As well as holding the titles of Duke
of Edinburgh, Earl of Kent and Earl of Ulster, Alfred was also (courtesy of his
father) the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.
As such visit caused much excitement amongst the German community in
Queensland.
The Brisbane Courier reported:[1]
A meeting of the German residents of Brisbane was held
last evening, at the Town Hall, to arrange the part to be taken by them in the
reception of H.R.H. the Prince on his visit to the colony.
After some discussion, it was unanimously resolved that a
torchlight procession should be hold in honour of the Prince on his arrival in
the colony. It was anticipated that upwards of 200 or 300 Germans would take
part in the procession. It was also resolved that the Prince should be
serenaded on the same evening.
The German residents of Toowoomba
were also keen to provide a suitable welcome to the prince. They were not pleased that the government had
not planned a royal reception in their town.
 |
| The German Club in Toowoomba |
Toowoomba and Drayton, and the residents of the
neighbourhood, are quite as loyal to the Crown as the inhabitants of any other
part of Australia. Amongst us there are many Germans, whose feelings towards
the Prince may be warmer, because in the natural course of events, he will
cease to be an Englishman, and become the reigning Duke of a German
principality.[2]
A meeting was duly called.
 |
| German Wagon |
The German population of Toowoomba met last night, and
agreed to get up a grand demonstration during the visit to the Downs of the
Duke of Edinburgh. The residents in the
outside districts are very enthusiastic with respect to the visit of the
Prince.
The Germans of Gotha Coburg are organising a
demonstration, and have erected an arch near the Railway Station. It is hoped
that the Prince will alight there, as the programme allows of a delay of twenty
minutes before starting for Jondaryan.
The prince’s stopover in
Toowoomba was to be brief.
The Prince arrived from Ipswich at a quarter to 7 last
night; about two thousand persons were present. As soon as His Royal Highness
entered the station he was greeted with enthusiastic cheers. The Prince smiled
at this demonstration of the popular feeling—the first of the kind that he has
witnessed in Australia. His Royal Highness did not leave his carriage, and no
addresses were presented. The train staid twenty minutes, after which it
proceeded to Jondaryan. On leaving the
station hearty cheers were given for the Prince.
 |
| Lutheran Church Committee, Toowoomba |
After the departure of His Royal Highness a large public
meeting was held, at which great dissatisfaction was expressed at the
proceedings of the Government with respect to the Prince's visit. It was
arranged last night that the Prince, on his return from Jondaryan today,
should stay for an hour at Toowoomba, and receive an address from the Germans,
under the triumphal arch.
The return visit was not much
better.
His Royal Highness arrived at a quarter to 10 o'clock
this morning, and alighted amidst great cheering. Mr. James Taylor's carriage
was in attendance. The Prince entered, and drove from the station up Ruthven Street
and back to the station, when he took his seat in the railway carriage, and the
train started at once. The whole visit only lasted twenty minutes. On the
Prince leaving, he was again cheered heartily. About five hundred persons were
present.
The German reception procession
was still on its way to the station.
 |
| German Wedding Party |
About five minutes after the train had started, the
Germans arrived in procession, headed with the national banner and twelve young
girls dressed in white, with blue ribbons, each with a basket of flowers,
intended to have been strewn in the Prince's path.
Their whole arrangements were very creditable. The German
address was a poetical one, and was very good. Their disappointment, at finding
that the Royal visitor had departed, was very great.
The Germans have agreed to send their address to His
Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh, to meet him on his arrival in Sydney.
The Germans were in no doubt whom
were to blame for the insult.
About three thousand persons of all classes attended the
burning in effigy of Messrs. Mackenzie and Palmer. A mock trial took place at
the School of Arts, after which the effigies were carried in procession through
the streets. Unanimity of action was very general, the Germans being very
bitter in their expressions.
The proceedings were closed by singing "Old John
Brown." The Prince was most enthusiastically cheered, whilst loud groans
and hisses fell to the share of the Ministry.
The whole affair reveals the
undercurrent of feeling by the establishment in Queensland, that the Germans
were not considered as true British citizens, which in reality most of them had
become through the process of “naturalisation”.
More of this anon!
© K. C. Sbeghen, 2011.
courier companies
ReplyDelete