On 19 January 1954, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip arrived in Canterbury via train during their 1953/54 New Zealand Royal Tour.
Pictured here are Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip enjoying a small pit stop in Darfield. What met them were hundreds of school children, a Mr J.C. Borwick (the Station Manager) and James Deans (previously of Riccarton and Homebush) who was the Malvern County Chairman.
Other highlights of the New Zealand tour were the Royals meeting a kiwi at New Plymouth, watching world record holder, Yvette Williams perform the long jump in Invercargill, a visit to the ‘Tangiwai Disaster’ graves at Karori Cemetery and the opening of parliament in Wellington.
