Film: the Queen speaking in Parliament, 1954

The Queen’s Speech from the Throne, 12 January 1954

Still shots and description

The Queen reads her speech inside Parliament.

Commentary:

‘Honourable members of the House of Representatives. It is with a feeling of real satisfaction that I speak to you, the elected representatives of the people of New Zealand, as your Queen, and that I exercise my prerogative of opening the fourth session of this 30th Parliament. A hundred years ago, when the people of New Zealand gained for themselves the right of responsible self-government, it would have required a prophetic imagination to have foreseen the possibility of the present occasion. But in these hundred years, New Zealand has grown to be a sovereign and mature state.’