Stockman’s Hall of Fame and Outback Heritage Centre Unveiling of Portrait of King Charles III & Queen Camilla

Longreach Regional Council Mayor, Councillor Tony Rayner and Councillors; Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame Chair, Mr Peter Hughes, Deputy Chair, the Honourable Bruce Scott AM and CEO Mr Lloyd Mills; Chairman of Tourism and Events Queensland, Mr Greg Hunt and CEO of the Outback Queensland Tourism Association, Ms Denise Brown; distinguished guests.

I begin by acknowledging the Original Custodians of the lands around Longreach, and pay my respects to Elders past, present and emerging, and to any First Nations people here today.

I am delighted to be with you today to celebrate our King’s enduring commitment to Royal patronage of the Stockman’s Hall of Fame and Outback Heritage Centre, and I thank the Board and management of the Hall for inviting me, as his personal representative here in Queensland, to unveil his official portrait.  

Our King’s genuine affection for the Australian Outback is well known, as is his admiration for the resilient and resourceful people who live in its remote settlements and on its vast pastoral holdings.  

Although it would not be until King Charles was in his sixties that he would finally visit this unique national museum, he would undoubtedly have been aware of this distant corner of the Commonwealth from a very young age – perhaps even as early as 1953 when, as a five-year-old, he would have heard the Queensland stockman and cattleman, Ray Wagg, speaking to the world as part of Queen Elizabeth’s landmark Christmas broadcast to the Commonwealth.

As an adult, Prince Charles would almost certainly have learnt of Hugh Sawrey’s visionary concept of a Hall of Fame to preserve Australia's rural heritage for future generations.

And in 1988, as a 29-year-old, would have been delighted when his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, conducted the official opening and he himself became Patron.

While he had accepted the role of Royal Patron of the new museum at its opening, it would not be until his seventh visit to Queensland, almost a quarter-century later, in November 2012, that the Prince would finally see the Hall of Fame for himself.  

On that occasion, he was accompanied by his wife, then the Duchess of Cornwall, on her very first visit to Australia. Although Longreach turned on a blistering 39-degree day for the Royal couple, the visit deepened and strengthened the relationship between the Crown and regional Australia, and led to the invitation for a representative of the Hall of Fame to attend the Prince’s lavish 70^th Birthday Garden Party for six thousand guests at Buckingham Palace in 2018.  

Even more importantly, although a significant number of patronages were withdrawn when the Prince of Wales became King Charles III on the passing of his beloved mother in September 2022, his support of the Hall of Fame has continued.

The museum today acknowledges the enormous value, credibility and prestige that come with this Royal ‘seal of approval’.

His Royal Highness and Queen Camilla have become the ultimate ‘brand ambassadors’ for the Hall, and I am confident they would both be delighted to see the results of the most recent refurbishment.

I would most certainly be thrilled to experience the splendid new immersive exhibition, currently in construction, with its focus on the legendary strength and resilience of regional communities in the face of natural disasters. However, I will just have to come back!

When this splendid portrait of King Charles and Queen Camilla has been unveiled, I invite you all to look closely at the detail.

The photograph may have been taken in London, but it is a very Australian image of them both with the King wearing both his medal as a Knight of the Order of Australia and his insignia as Sovereign Head of the Order, and Queen Camilla wearing a dress as blue as an Outback sky – and the magnificent yellow and white diamond ‘wattle brooch’ that was presented to Queen Elizabeth II in 1954 during her very first visit to Australia as a gift from the Government and People of Australia.

It now gives me great pride and pleasure to unveil this portrait in recognition of King Charles’s 38-year contribution as Royal Patron of the Stockman’s Hall of Fame and Outback Heritage Centre.

Thank you.