PM Transcripts

RGY . jAUSTRALZA
FOR MEDIA 27 SEPTEMBER 1988
Her Majesty Queen Beatrix and His Royal Highness Prince Claus of
the Netherlands will make an official Visit to Australia from
Monday October 24 to Saturday November
It will be the first time a reigning Dutch monarch will have
visited Australia.
The visit will take the Royal Couple to the Australian Capital
Territory, Tasmania, South Australia, Victoria and New South
wales. It is fitting that Her Majesty and His Royal Highness visit
Australia to honour our Bicentenary, as Dutch navigators played
such an important part in the discovery by Europeans of this
continent. indeed the Dutch were the first recorded Europeans to sight and
to set foot on Australia, and the mapping of much of the western
part of our coastline was carried out by them.
In the ACT, the Queen and Prince Claus will be given a ceremonial
welcome at RAAF Base Fairbairn on 24 October. Later that day,
they will be the guests of Their Excellencies the
Governor-General and Lady Stephen at a State Dinner. Other
highlights of their visit to Canberra will include a lunch hosted
by myself and Mrs Hawke at Parliament House on 25 October, and
visits to the Australian War memorial, Mt Stromlo Observatory,
the Regatta Point Exhibition and the Canberra School of Art, as
well as a reception for members of the local Dutch community.
other important events in the visit will be the unveiling of a
monument to the Dutch navigator, Abel Tasman, in Hobart, and
attendance at the Melbourne Cup.
Further details of the visit elsewhere in Australia will be
announced separately by the Premiers of Tasmania, South
Australia, Victoria and New South Wales.
I know many thousands of Australians of Dutch descent and
indeed all Australians will give. Queen Beatrix and Prince Claus
a warm and enthusiastic welcome. 27