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Sidelights and Incidents
SYDNEY, Wednesday.
— The former Gover
nor-General (Sir Wil
liam McKell) and Lady
McKell had seats in the
front row of the official
stand behind the dais
at Farm Cove. When
Lady Slim arrived with
the Governor- General
(Sir William Slim), she
took a seat next to Sir
William and Lady Mc
Kell.
First aid posts dotted
Farm Cove in anticipa
tion of collapse from heat
and . exhaustion among
members of the public
who had camped all
night. Ambulance men
attended more than 50
people in this area alone
after they , fainted in the
tightly packed crowds.
» » .
Mr. B. G. Watson,
company manager, of
Bondi Junction, who sat
on a folding chair in '
Victoria Street, saw the
Queen 11 times during
Coronation week in
London last year.
"I sat in the rain for
eight hours to see the
Coronation procession,"
he said.
Looking at tfie cloud
less sky, Mr. Watson
said : "This is much bet
ter. I had to pay four
guineas, too, for my
seat in the Mall. This
seat is free."
.
Two men with an eye
for quick -money arrived
at a city corner and of
fered fruit cases for sale
at 6/ each to "sit on while
you Wait."
A policeman ordered
them to move on so they
trundled the handcart of
cases to another street
corner and sold them in
quick time.
Hundreds of spec
tators along the route
with portable radios
kept the crowd well in
formed on events at
Farm Cove while they
waited for the Queen to
appear. Excitement
rose when the Queen
left the Gothic and
crowds gathered round
every radio to hear the
broadcasts.
Radios were turned to
their loudest when the
Queen began making her
address in reply, to the
official welcome and the
effect was equal to ah ex-
.tremely efficient public
address system.
A city council water
carrier drenched, dozens
of people camped over
night at a corner in the
suburb of Camperdown,
rudely awakening those
huddled in blankets in
the kerbstone. The vic
tims said they had no
warning of the truck's
approach and no time
to get out of the way.
-
While the crowd waited
for the Queen at King's
Cross a seven-year-old
boy broke the -police bar
riers, strutted important
ly along the route, and
made an unofficial in
spection v of the llned-up
troops.
Before one of them he
stopped, stared' at his
boots, then to the delight
of the crowd and dis
comfiture of the soldier,
whipped out a handker
chief and began cleaning
his boots.
In Redfern, in the
front row of 2000 dis
abled veterans, about
180 men strained their
ears to catch every
sound of the Royal wel
come.
They were seeing the
procession — but through
others' eyes. Totally
blind they listened to
the descriptions given
by wives or guides who
sat beside them.
Another 400 partially-
blinded veterans peered
intently to distinguish the
Ioyal car and its regal
occupants through the
haze of affected sight. '
. » » . " .
' A young chemist's as
sistant at King's Cross
provided free seats for 30
women and aged people
outside his shop so that
they could catch a
glimpse of the Queen.
He said: "Some of the
people offered me- up to
five- shillings, bpt you
.can't bash in on patriot
ism. But they insisted oh
making a donation to the
Crippled- Children's
Fund."
$