The best laid plans...

Strawberries Romanoff, the dish served as dessert at the Eating the Archives luncheon on 28 October 2011 was directly inspired by a draft menu found in a Premier’s Department file for a planned Dinner at Parliamentary House for the visit of The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh in March 1974. This archived file [1] and 39 others in the State archives collection detail the preparations for this planned royal visit.

The files reveal that The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh were to attend various community events including a pageant and tableau presented by 7,000 secondary school students at Beatty Park Aquatic Centre. This was to conclude with a demonstration of surf life saving and diving. [2]

A small file shows that plans were made for the Duke of Edinburgh to receive a visit at Government House from Mr Ralph Sarich “for the purpose of displaying (his) engine and discussing it with His Royal Highness.” [3] Plans for this royal visit also included time set aside to tour Dampier and Paraburdoo in the North West. The archived file reveals a warning that there was:

“1 chance in 4 of a cyclone in Dampier in March
1 chance in 50 of a cyclone on any one day in March” [4]

But notwithstanding this concern, the royal visitors were unable to appear in WA in any case. The 28 February 1974 General Election in the United Kingdom had resulted in a hung parliament and there was a constitutional necessity for The Queen to be present in the UK at this time. The best laid plans …