Saturday, October 22, 2011

Royal Visit

Queen Elizabeth II is due in Brisbane on Monday, and in honour of her visit, I am including here a declaration from her Coronation in 1953. This declaration, as is says, comes from Rosewood, a little country town just outside of Ipswich, in Queensland.

As a girl, I remember pledging allegiance to Queen and Country, every morning as part of the first lesson in class, despite going to school in the 1980s. We would stand behind our school desks, hand on heart, and look at the Coronation photo of our Queen (a portrait that was above every single blackboard in our school, as well as being in pride of place in the library), while saying our pledge, before we were allowed to sit down and start our school day. On a friday, we would sing "God Save the Queen" (the then national anthem of Australia), on parade, before marching (literally, army style) off to class, in rigid little lines of two abreast, one class at a time, starting with the infant school.

Oh! for the days.... :-)

No comments: