General News
15 September, 2022
A piece of Queen’s history in Camperdown
A PIECE of royal history resides in Camperdown.
A PIECE of royal history resides in Camperdown.
Local resident Bert Pratt was lucky enough to come across a piece of tapestry from Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation.
“Twenty years ago I was the assistant to the Anglican Minister in Ivanhoe Melbourne, and one of my jobs was to raise money to pay for a youth minister,” he said.
“I asked the congregation of about 100 souls to bring something classy and valuable for the following Saturday night and I would auction it off for them.
“The very generous congregation at St James bought lots of things worth lots of money and I auctioned it all off with flair and flourish.
“One of the items was a beautifully framed tapestry which was made specifically for the coronation of our Queen way back in 1953.”
Mr Pratt said the lady who purchased the tapestry to be auctioned off was a student of pharmacy in London back in the 50’s and she found out after the coronation you could go to Westminster Cathedral and buy a memento of the event.
He said she purchased two pieces of the tapestry.
Mr Pratt said he was a self-described “ridiculous royalist” and thought the framed tapestry would look fabulous on his lounge room wall.
“I got $500 which was pretty good I guess, but I smiled through gritted teeth as I handed the object over to its new owner,” he said.
“The following day the pharmacist had a gift for me. It was the identical twin tapestry to the one I’d reluctantly auctioned the previous night.
“Now it’s proudly displayed on my lounge room here in Camperdown. I figured it was appropriate that everyone in Camperdown knew that we have in our gorgeous town, a snippet of the 1953 coronation of Queen Elizaeth II.”
Mr Pratt and his son, Christopher, live in Manifold in the former bank of New South Wales (beside Pizza Magic).
He has been busily converting the front of the bank into two self contained units.
Mr Pratt said he would display the tapestry for the next month in memory of Queen Elizabeth II.