No crowds for princely visit

2005-03-01 10:04

Perth - Britain's Prince Charles on Tuesday began the first full day of his Australian tour with a visit to a Perth hospital, but the huge flag-waving crowds that once marked a royal visit were conspicuous by their absence.

Prince Charles arrived in the Western Australian state capital late on Monday on the first leg of a five-day tour which will also take in the outback town of Alice Springs, Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra.

After touring tsunami-devastated Sri Lanka, the prince's first port of call in Perth was Royal Perth Hospital, where he visited patients and staff at a specialist burns unit.

Security is much tighter than for his last visit in 1994 when a student fired a starting pistol in his direction during an Australia Day ceremony in Sydney attended by thousands of flag-waving spectators.

But only a small group of mostly hospital staff and passers-by were at the hospital to welcome him on Tuesday and they waited outside the hospital for his arrival - without a flag to be seen.

'Positive visit'

Polls have routinely shown majority support for Australia to become a republic and ditch the British monarch as its head of state. But a 1999 referendum on the issue was won by the monarchist cause because of divisions in the republican movement over the sort of republic they wanted.

Prince Charles was introduced to four burns victims of the 2002 Bali bombings - an atrocity he later described as "bewildering" - as he was guided through the unit by Doctor Fiona Wood, who won the Australian of the Year award last month.

Wood developed a revolutionary "spray on" skin to treat severe burns in much less time than conventional treatment.

Prince Charles, who is unaccompanied on his tour by his bride-to-be Camilla Parker Bowles, asked staff about treatment methods and showed particular interest in infections which follow major burns.

He later moved through a packed reception area where he joked to staff and patients waiting to catch a glimpse of the heir to the throne.

"What time is your lunch break?" he asked one staff member. "I seem to have stopped it," he quipped, before the man could answer.

Wood said she had been impressed by the prince's knowledge of the world-leading work being carried out by the burns unit and was grateful he had taken the time to visit.

"It was a very positive visit," she said.

"He had obviously done his homework. It was gratifying that he took the time to come here and even more gratifying that he knows a bit about it."

- AFP