Parliament House was lit up on Saturday night with images of the Queen, in honour of her historic seven-decade reign and her long relationship with the Australian people.
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Pictures of Queen Elizabeth II emblazoned the building's facade, showing her visits to Australia starting in 1954 and continuing for more than five decades until 2011.
Among the words and quotations projected upon Parliament House was the Queen's own observation about her relationship with the nation: "As Queen of Australia, I have always felt a special bond with a people whose creative energy and collective ambition is leavened by genuine warmth, generosity and humour."
Pictures showing her embrace by Australian crowds, and her visits to Canberra, illuminated the building after dark as her son King Charles III was proclaimed the new monarch in the United Kingdom.
One striking projection featured the famous "wattle painting" of the newly-crowned Queen by Australian artist Sir William Dargie in 1954.
Her tour that year was the first time a reigning monarch had set foot on Australian soil, and 75 per cent of Australia's population caught a glimpse of the new young queen.
Queen Elizabeth II visited Canberra 14 times throughout her reign.
She opened the new Parliament House in 1988, 61 years after her father opened the provisional building as Duke of York in the capital city's early years.
"It is as if all the other buildings of the great national institutions had been waiting for this, the greatest of them all, to take its rightful place as their centre and focus," the Queen said of the new building.
On previous visits she had opened the Australian-American Memorial in Canberra in 1954, the National Carillon and the Captain James Cook Memorial on Lake Burley Griffin in April 1970, the High Court in May 1980 and the National Gallery in October 1982.
Parliament House joined other iconic Australian buildings, including the Sydney Opera House, in being lit up to honour the Queen.
Earlier on Saturday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese joined Governor-General David Hurley and a host of politicians, including Liberal leader Peter Dutton and ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr at Parliament House to lay flowers before a statue of the Queen.
The monarch unveiled the statue in 1988 as she opened the new Parliament House.
Doug Dingwall
Doug Dingwall is The Canberra Times' parliamentary bureau chief. He writes about government and federal politics, and has an interest in integrity, industrial relations and foreign affairs. Previously he worked at The Examiner in Launceston, where he won a Tasmanian Human Rights Award for his reporting. Contact him on doug.dingwall@canberratimes.com.au
Doug Dingwall is The Canberra Times' parliamentary bureau chief. He writes about government and federal politics, and has an interest in integrity, industrial relations and foreign affairs. Previously he worked at The Examiner in Launceston, where he won a Tasmanian Human Rights Award for his reporting. Contact him on doug.dingwall@canberratimes.com.au
