'The Royal We': Australian aviation, royal tours and tensions between republicanism, empire and monarchy

Post World War II, when aircraft gradually replaced ships as the medium for international travel, royal tours to Australia increased tenfold. Only six of 50 plus visits by Royal Family members pre-date 1954. In 1965, Qantas (then Qantas Empire Airways) flew the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester on their Australian tour. As the national airline, Qantas promoted Australian design, food, and wine through its first-class cabin service. For this royal tour, the interior of a Boeing 707 was re-modelled with Australian designs, contemporary textiles, and a food and beverage service that showcased local produce, presenting Australia as a modern nation of cosmopolitan tastes that had grown beyond its stereotypical portrayal as a convict/colonial backwater. However, in this paper, we argue that, while Qantas and other Australian carriers sought to promote a modern and cosmopolitan Australia, the growing accessibility of air travel enabled the maintenance of imperial and colonial connections to the detriment of Australian republican ambitions. We illustrate how royal visits to Australia in the 1950s and 1960s set a powerful precedent that has been challenging for the Australian Republic Movement to counter in later decades.