Times Past: May 25, 1980

As one can imagine, security was ramped up in anticipation of her arrival at Fairbairn RAAF Base, with portable steel barriers keeping the crowd a small distance away. The trip started with the a dab of informality, the antithesis to royalty.

There was a crowd of about 400 people who gathered in ski resort-type clothes lining the steel barrier that was only five metres from the car the Queen was heading to. Waiting to greet her were governor-general Sir Zelman Cowen, Lady Cowen, prime minister Malcolm Fraser and Tammie, his wife. The Queen waved to the crowd as an appreciation for the adulation.

On the itinerary for the Queen was the opening of High Court at Lake Burley Griffin and attending the Anzac Memorial Chapel of St Paul at the Royal Military College. The Duke and her stayed in the Government House with plainclothes security police blended in the crowd and uniformed police manning all the intersections throughout the 10km drive.

The Queen had visited Canberra a total of 14 times, her most visited city in Australia, with her inaugural visit coming in 1954. In her first visit, she opened a session of parliament while accompanied by Robert Menzies. She would later bestow a knighthood to Menzies in her 1963 visit.

Continuing theme, the Queen often returned to Canberra to open various sessions of parliament and open now iconic Canberra buildings including the National Gallery and National Carillon. She even the opened Bonython Primary School.

In what would become her last visit to the territory in 2011, she was greeted by Australia's first female governor-general Quentin Bryce, first female prime minister Julia Gillard and ACT chief minister Katy Gallagher. The Queen remarked "ever since I first came here in 1954, I have watched Australia grow and develop at an extraordinary rate" and "this country has made dramatic progress ... above all in self-confidence".

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