Of her seven visits to Western Australia, it was Queen Elizabeth's last one that saw an estimated 100,000 people pack the Esplanade for a 'big Aussie barbecue', that will stick in the minds of many.
But former school principal Brian Devereux still laughs when he remembers Her Majesty's visit to Vasse Primary School in Busselton in 2000.
"I took Queen Elizabeth into my pre-primary classes [of] five-year-olds, and some little kid in the front row yelled out 'whose Nanna is that'?" he said.
"I got sent an article from London from The Daily Telegraph saying that clearly education in Australia was lacking somewhat, because these children at this particular school didn't know who Her Majesty was."
It came only a few weeks into his time at the school, and prompted an equally as humorous conversation in the lead up.
"I got a phone call from my boss who said, 'Would you be prepared to host an important visitor?' and I said, 'Oh, yes. Who did you have in mind?'" he said.
"He said, Elizabeth Windsor —and I said, 'oh, is she in education or something?'
"And my boss said to me, after a little bit of a pause —Brian does the word Her Majesty or Queen ring any particular bells with you? I said, 'are you joking'?"
Although the Queen only visited the South-West corner of WA a handful of times during her reign, memories of those trips abound.
God Save the Queen
That's true for 88-year-old Beverley Bird, who has fond memories of playing 'God Save The Queen' to Her Majesty and Prince Philip for the 150th anniversary of the town of Albany in 1977.
"It was a great honour to be asked to do that," she said.
"The Queen had been to many places, and to think that she came to Albany and spent so much time with us, we were quite impressed."
Ms Bird said she can still remember the Queen stopping, listening and giving a smile of thanks.
WA has the highest proportion of British ex-pats of anywhere in Australia, many in Perth's northern suburbs.
That includes Emma Hoddinott, who moved down under 30 years ago and now works at the Best of British store in Joondalup.
She said it was a shock when her phone pinged with the news in the early hours of this morning.
"I remember when I was at school I wrote her a letter, I can't remember if it was about some disgrace going on, probably Princess Margaret or something, and she wrote me a really nice letter back, or her lady in waiting did, but I've still got it to this day," Ms Hoddinott said.
"A few people have made comments this morning, one gentlemen was clearly distressed when he came in, but it's just good to share memories and think about all the good that she's done in her life," she said.
Customer Frances Lawlor fought back tears as she explained the text she received from her daughter in the early hours of the morning.
"The ding on my phone woke me up and it was really quite … it was just surreal," she said.
"She was on television two days ago swearing in the English Prime Minister and then she's just gone."
Emotional responses to news
At a nearby tavern, Pauline Carr was caught off guard by her response when news broke in the early hours of this morning.
"Surprisingly, actually, it hit me more than I thought it would do," she said, with a crack in her voice.
"It was just one of those things, she's the Queen, she's always going to be there."
Her friend, Caroline Harrison, was similarly shaken.
"I'm just numb," she said.
"She's part of the old empire and she's been our moral compass my whole life, my mum and dad's whole life, their mum and dad's whole life."
Queen's 'unwavering love' for Australia
As deputy police commissioner in 2011, Chris Dawson was in charge of the police operation for the Queen's last visit to Perth for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
Today, as WA's Governor, Mr Dawson took on a very different role, opening the doors of Government House to allow West Australians to pay their respects.
"We expect thousands to come here. This is the most appropriate place for people to show their respects, and to be able to sign the condolence books," he said.
"We thank Her Majesty for her unwavering love for this country."
After laying down a wreath and signing the commemoration book, WA Premier Mark McGowan spoke about his memories of the Queen's final visit to Australia.
"Perth was the last city she ever visited in Australia," he said.
"Her majesty attended the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting, and the Big Aussie Barbecue.
"Western Australia has a very large number of our citizens born in Britain. Around 300,000 West Australians were born there – about one in nine of our citizens. Many will be feeling the loss of her majesty very acutely today."
City of Busselton remembers
The City of Busselton was setting up a shrine for the Queen at the administration building.
The City's Julie Rawlings helped organise the Queen's 2000 visit and said it was devastating to hear of her death.
"[The visit] was probably one of the most memorable times of my entire life. She was in pink, beautiful in pink." Ms Rawlings said.
"We only had eight weeks notice that she was coming and at that point it wasn't even confirmed. It was quite a scramble to get everything happening as it should."
Busselton Historical Society president Stephanie Piper said as soon as she heard the news, she immediately flew the museum's flag at half-mast.
"We're a long way away but we do feel very strongly here about the Queen," Mrs Piper said.
"It feels as though we've lost a friend."
'Good morning Britannia, this is Broome exchange'
Long-time Broome local and Yawuru woman Doris Matthews was 20 years old and working at the local telephone exchange during the Queen's 1963 visit to town.
"She didn't fly in, she sailed in on Britannia into beautiful Roebuck Bay," Ms Matthews said.
"[But] she couldn't have access to Broome Wharf because it was neap [a small difference between low and high] tide."
The Kimberley's famously large tides often restricted access to Broome's old wharf at the time of the Queen's visit.
"Consequently, Britannia had to anchor in Roebuck Bay, and Her Majesty proceeded to the wharf by a barge," Ms Mathews said.
"She didn't walk through the mud — she climbed the platform and I thought she would have had to hold her skirts up because it would have been windy.
"But she made it, and she did a tour of Broome town."
Ms Mathews and other staff at the exchange played a critical role ensuring smooth communication with the royal yacht during the tour.
"We had all the top engineers from Perth come up for weeks and weeks before that to ensure we had a successful ship-to-shore telephone link up," she said.
"Because I happened to be the operator on duty, I had to plug in every five minutes and say 'Good morning Britannia, this is Broome Exchange, can you hear me? Over'."
