THE man who was second in line to the British throne was to pass through Rosewood that day on board the train enroute to Brisbane.
It was Wednesday, April 6, 1927.
The Royal Tour by the Duke and Duchess of York had been arranged around the opening of the Parliament House in Canberra in May at which HRH Prince Albert would officiate.
The ducal couple had spent the night in Toowoomba and at railway station towns along the route, people began to gather early in the day in the hope they may catch a glimpse of royalty and perhaps the train may stop for a few minutes.
It was not to be by the time the royal train reached Rosewood as it was already behind schedule.
According to a report in the Brisbane Courier the following day … “large numbers of persons from all parts of the district had assembled at the railway crossing [at Rosewood] and on various vantage grounds.
“The state school children were lined up at the railway crossing, and cheered lustily at the train went through. The Convent School children were also at the side of the line and waved flowers in greeting to the Royal pair.
“The Duke and Duchess, who were dining, leaned from their carriage and waved to the children. Through the courtesy of the Railway officials, a basket of flowers tied with the CWA colours, bearing a welcome to the Duchess from the Rosewood CWA was handed into the train. Business places near the station were decorated with flags.”
But all were disappointed that the train had not stopped for a few minutes or even slowed, so that many of those who had gathered had not had the chance to even catch a fleeting view of His Royal Highness, Prince Albert.
Few would be able to boast in later years that they had seen the man who would become King George VI, nor that they had glimpsed his Queen Consort, Elizabeth.
Yet the people of Rosewood and all the surrounding districts would be given ample opportunity to talk of the time they rubbed shoulders (figuratively speaking) with another British Royal.
Preparations for the visit of HRH Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, began many months ahead of his anticipated arrival in Rosewood on Tuesday, December 4, 1934.
The main purpose of the Duke’s visit to Australia was to open the centenary celebrations of the State of Victoria on October 18.
His visit to Queensland was scheduled at the tail end of the tour before he left for New Zealand on December 11.
Today, Prince Henry would perhaps be remembered, if remembered at all, as the third son of King George V and Queen Mary, as his life and accomplishments have been overshadowed by his elder brothers, King Edward VIII and King George VI.
But in 1934, he was the 34-year-old bachelor Prince, a military man, tall and handsome, well spoken and charming.
By the time he arrived in Rosewood, his Royal Tour of Australia was already deemed a great success.
He had been received throughout the nation with such overwhelming enthusiasm that one journalist wrote that it … “[amounted] to something very near adoration”, wrote author, Theo Aronson, in his book, ‘Royal Family: Years of Transition’.
In an article in the Brisbane Telegraph, datelined December 4, 1934: “The Royal visit was notable for the spontaneity of the children’s demonstration.
“When cheers were called for they gave them loudly enough, but when it was announced that the Duke had granted them a holiday, which was to be taken tomorrow, and three more cheers were called for, the increase in the volume of sound from the youngsters’ throats made the Duke laugh heartily.”
As the royal train drew into the town, the Duke may have noticed that the Rosewood station was decorated with bunting and foliage.
As he alighted, the town band played the National Anthem.
On the platform, the Duke, accompanied by Premier William Forgan Smith, reviewed a row of World War I returned soldiers, who were standing on parade.
“The first man he encountered was Mr J Bodman, whom the Prince found had belonged to his regiment, the 10th Hussars,” the Queensland Times reported the next day.
“A conversation which followed disclosed that Mr Bodman had gone through the war with that unit and had left it in 1919.
“In the station vestibule the Duke passed between rows of Marburg Scouts, parading under Scout Master M Duus: where, too, decorations in his honour were in evidence.
“Mothers of soldiers lost in the Great War, also awaited on the platform.”
As the Duke walked out of the station, a crowd of school children, waving flags, and a “mass of residents”, cheered as His Royal Highness appeared.
The Rosewood councillors and the shire clerk were among the people who had gathered, as were the representatives of the Rosewood CWA.”
When the Duke returned to the train and it pulled out of the station … “it was to the accompaniment of cheering from crowds who clustered on the railway fences, on the overbridge and at the level crossing.”
