BY ALEX TIGANI
Singleton’s Jill Mandas was one of the estimated 100,000 gathered at Lismore to see the Queen on her coronation tour in 1954.
Ms Mandas admitted she cried when she heard about the Queen’s passing, such was the joy her visit brought 68 years earlier.
“I was still in school at Lismore High School and had to walk down to the sportsground and we stood in ankle deep water just to see her.”
The visit made February 10, 1954 one of the most famous days in the town’s history.
However, record level floods then surpassed the headlines the following day.
It is well documented that the Queen and Prince Philip had only just made it out of town via the Evans Head aerodrome prior to rising waters.
“The hotel where she stayed (the Gollan Hotel) was then flooded the following day of the Lismore floods, in fact that water reached the balcony,” she added.
“We still remember how exciting their visit was and how they were in a covered car and she and the Duke were waving.
“Every time she was on the TV I would just love looking at her, she was just so beautiful.”
