A Royal Visit - GM Holden 1963
In memory of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II - we revisit a memory when she and Duke of Edinburgh Prince Philip’s 1963 visited one of Primeland’s projects -Lionsgate Elizabeth, also known as the former General Motors (GM) Holden Manufacturing Plant.
As part of her royal tour in 1963, that included overseeing various landmarks and developments across each state, it comes as no surprise that Queen Elizabeth’s visit to the GM Holden was a highly anticipated one. On Thursday 21, February afternoon, after the unveiling of the sculptured Fountain at Windsor Green, Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh departed for GM Holden to inspect the production activity of the plant. The tour of the production hall included visiting a display of a deconstructed Holden Sedan and its seventeen thousand parts, a model replica of the plant’s development and a viewing of the current models in production before concluding at the body assembly plant.
GM Holden, also affectionately called Holden Elizabeth Plant was established in 1963, in a suburb in Adelaide known as Elizabeth (hence the nickname). The manufacturing facility was proposed at the conclusion of the Second World War in which the state government declared an injection of industrialisation of South Australia. The ambitious proposal along with an initiative of housing development put forth by the South Australian Housing Trust eventuated a purchase of acres of farmland to develop into a suburb - which we now come to know as Elizabeth.
Producing more than 600 cars each day then and spanning approximately 300 acres of land (with an estimated cost of 11 million pounds), the plant’s construction took nearly five years - and despite the lengthy process, it was built in succession to allow for certain operations to continue during construction. The large acquisition of land for development was intended for supplementing other GM Plants while accommodating the needs between South and Western Australia. The project also influenced Philip highway planning in order for the facility to function effectively.
Over the many years of operation until it’s closure in 2017 - GM Holden was known to produce the Holden Commodore range, Holden Caprice / Chevrolet Caprice PPV and Holden Cruze (till their discontinuation).
While the layout of GM Holden remains relatively unchanged, it is not surprising to find the individual plants undergoing various changes to keep up with rapid technological evolution.