Royal visit to Ballarat

In 1901 The Duke and Duchess of York, later King George V and Queen Mary, visited Melbourne to open Australia’s first federal parliament. Ensign Sidney Cook, a projectionist for the Salvation Army’s Limelight Department, shot film of their visit, for the Victorian Government. On 13 May the Duke and Duchess visited Ballarat and Cook’s footage is our oldest glimpse of an Australian provincial city.