As the world watches King Charles III coronation we remember when he came to visit Wollongong with then wife Diana

The then Prince was coming to town to officially open the Illawarra Performing Arts Centre (IPAC) in Burelli Street.

The IPAC itself was a big deal - its main stage was six times larger than the one at the nearby town hall.

But just as important to the people of Wollongong was whether Princess Diana was going to make the trip down from Sydney.

Read more: The ultimate guide to the coronation of King Charles III

After all, it was the Prince's first visit to the city since his marriage.

Initial reports were that Prince Charles would be flying solo, while the princess relaxed at Admiralty House, overlooking Sydney Harbour.

The situation got so desperate that Corrimal MP Laurie Kelly pushed NSW Premier Barrie Unsworth to intervene and encourage her to come along - though how he would do that was a mystery.

In the end, the Princess made a last-minute decision to add in a trip to Wollongong - she decided on the plane flight over.

"While on the plane, during the first leg of their journey to Australia," a spokesman for the Prime Minister said, "the Princess sat and went over her schedule, we are led to believe.

"She apparently saw her way clear to accompany her husband to Wollongong. This will be quite a boon to the city as I believe the Princess has never been to Wollongong in the past."

In preparation for the Royal visit almost 200 tradespeople were onsite at the IPAC to make sure it was ready. They had been working 56 hours a week to make sure the January 30 deadline was met.

At 11am on that day, the tradies had to down tools and leave to allow police to move in and secure the building ahead of Prince Charles and Princes Diana's arrival at 4.35pm.

The couple drove down to Wollongong, travelling along Cliff Road and Marine Drive, up Crown Street and down Kembla Street to the Burelli Street location of the IPAC.

The streets around the IPAC were closed to traffic to allow thousands of people to line Burelli Street and crowd into the Civic Plaza in the hopes catching a glimpse of royalty.

A chance to get inside the IPAC for the royal event was the hottest ticket in town, with some key theatre figures - including Gordon Streek - snubbed by not making the invite list.

Theatrical circles were unimpressed that some of their brethren missed out while plenty of council and political figures were invited.

"I'm sad some people who deserve recognition for their part in promoting theatre in the city and chasing the performing arts centre won't be there on the big day," said Deputy Lord Mayor Alderman Pat Franks.

"I won't call it Rent-A-Crowd but there will be some of the same faces there tomorrow."

Outside, the crowds began gathering more than four hours before the Prince's arrival, waving Australian flags - thousands more had lined the route their car would take to the IPAC.

Some of the latter were disappointed the royals would change cars to a Ford LTD before driving back; looking for a Rolls Royce, they missed the couple driving right past them.

In a speech in the Civic Plaza, Prince Charles made a curious start, stating that "before anyone shouts 'boring' I'm about to make the most boring speech that I've ever made".

He then spoke about how he was delighted to be back in Wollongong - his last visit was in 1977.

During his speech, there were land rights demonstrators in the crowd chanting slogans.

"Would you repeat yourselves?" the Prince asked. "I didn't quite catch it. No, say it again, I didn't hear."

His response drew cheers from the 40,000-strong crowd.

Protest group spokesman Lies Paijmans said they took the Prince's challenge "in the spirit in which it was intended".

"We didn't take it seriously, not were we offended," Paijmans said. "We know our chant didn't ruffle him. He's been taught to handle those sorts of things."

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