BY DAKOTA TAIT
The Hunter is remembering Queen Elizabeth II, who has passed away at the age of 96.
Buckingham Palace says Her Majesty died peacefully at Balmoral Castle.
Her son Charles - now King Charles III - and the Royal Family are mourning the passing of the sovereign and much-loved mother.
Her Majesty's death has sent ripples around the world, across the Commonwealth, and here in the Hunter Region.
The community's paying tribute, with thousands of messages pouring in across social media and from leaders and figures around the world.
The Bishop of Newcastle Dr Peter Stuart says the Hunter's Anglican community is remembering an important figure to the Church of England and its global communion.
"Anglicans in the Hunter Region have always been praying for the Queen, as part of our services of prayer and of gathering," he said. "We have a sense of affinity with Her Majesty and are deeply saddened by her passing."
"Our hearts and minds and affinities are shaped by our Anglican understanding, and so we pray for King Charles III and for what his reign will look like."
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The Queen made four official visits to the Hunter throughout her 70 year reign, first in 1954, on her Coronation Tour.
In 1970, Her Majesty visited Newcastle to open the International Sports Centre and christened a ship at Newcastle dockyards, the Darwin Trader.
"[The International Sports Centre] will make a valuable contribution to the health and happiness of the community," Her Majesty said.
"In declaring it open, it is my sincere hope, that your aims will soon be realised by the completion of the whole project."
Seven years later, the Queen returned for the opening of the Newcastle Regional Art Gallery.
Newcastle MP Sharon Claydon was there.
"The Queen was no stranger to Newcastle and the Hunter Region," she said. "She visited us on at least four occasions."
"I remember being a young girl in Civic Park myself in 1977, when she visited to open the Newcastle Art Gallery. There was a crowd of adoring fans."
"It was very much a case of recognising the Queen as this timeless figure in our lives. Most of us in Australia know no other monarch, and she has had a very historic reign over such a long period of time."
In 1988, Her Majesty visited the city again to officially open Queens Wharf.
Former Lord Mayor John McNaughton welcomed the Queen, but years later admitted, there had been a little bit of anxiety around the visit.
"We didn't know what to expect," he said. "We didn't know whether she'd be standoffish or how it'd go."
Lady Mayoress Margaret McNaughton joined her husband in hosting the Queen, saying Her Majesty made them feel as though the city was the most important place in the world.
"I got the impression that we were the only people in the whole world that they'd come to see and to visit," she said. "And Newcastle was the only place on earth that they were destined to visit and it really mattered."
But the visit wasn't without its hiccups.
"I tore my trousers on the way out between the Customs House the car - on the emblem on the front of the Lord Mayoral car," Mr McNaughton said.
"That's why I had to leave my robe on during lunch, because my knee was hanging out of my trousers."
"Over lunch we told [the Royals]. The Duke thought it was a huge joke - he laughed and laughed."
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Today, the City of Newcastle and other Hunter councils are now flying their flags at half-mast.
They'll also establish condolence books, as the community continues to mourn the much-loved monarch.
"I think today is going to be marked with a lot of fond memories," Ms Claydon said. "It is really the close of a second Elizabethan age."
The Anglican Diocese of Newcastle will host a special memorial service at Christ Church Cathedral in the next ten days.
The Bishop of Newcastle says while it's a time of mourning, it's also a chance for the whole community to reflect.
"Whenever someone like the Queen dies, we have a sense of our mortality," Dr Stuart said.
"I'm encouraging everyone to spend a moment to stop and to pray and to think, and just hold true to all that they believe in and to spend time with the people they love."
"We can be caught up in our sense of mourning and sadness, and it's a time to reach out and care for others."
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| The Queen and Prince Philip on their visit to Newcastle in February 1954. |
