Royal train ride was just the start
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WHEN we ran the item in the Mercury the other day on the 60th anniversary of the Royal Visit to Lithgow in ’54 it struck a chord with Jim Thornthwaite, a Lithgow schoolboy at the time and now residing at Engadine. In the article we referred by name to the Boy Scouts who were part of the official welcoming party and who later became the envy of their friends when invited to ride on the Royal Train from Bowenfels to Lithgow station. Among the lucky boys getting up close and personal with the entourage was one Brian Martin. But it turns out this was not his only claim to fame. Jim tells us that this was the same Brian Frank Martin AO MBE QC who went on to become the fourth Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory. Born and raised in Lithgow, he went to Lithgow High School then studied Law and eventually moved to the Northern Territory and to higher callings. Jim tells us this Lithgow boy made good moved to Alice Springs and is well thought of in the territory for his work among the aboriginal people.
Right royal memories
ON that subject the Lithgow Library Learning Centre, Lithgow Living History Group and Lithgow Family History Society are hosting a morning tea at the Lithgow Library this morning, celebrating the 60th anniversary of that touring royal celebrity event. There will be a screening of an historic film of the visit, owned by the Coates family whose father, Harold, was mayor at the time. Admission is free, everyone is welcome, and you’re invited to bring along memorabilia of the occasion. Gloves and hats, we’re told, are optional and there will be a 1950s style Devonshire Tea. This right royal occasion gets under way at 9.30. All very appropriate too with some other royal tourists around the region at present.