Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
13 Sep 2022
It was with great sadness that we awoke last Friday to the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, ending her truly remarkable reign as our Queen. For most Australians, Queen Elizabeth II had been Sovereign for our entire life, acceding to the throne at the age of 25 in 1952.
The Queen personified the virtues of duty, wisdom, and compassion, and has been a constant beacon of hope throughout some of the darkest days of the 20th and 21st centuries.
During the Second World War, Princess Elizabeth became the first female Royal to serve as a fulltime member of the British Army when she joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service as a training mechanic. In uniform, the young Princess served alongside her fellow servicewomen until the war’s end in 1945.
Acceding to the throne seven years later, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II remained stoic through the tumult of the post-war world, showing incredible poise throughout events such as the Cold War, Vietnam War, the demise of Apartheid, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the 9/11 terrorist attacks. We were comforted again by her extraordinary strength of character in 2020 when she addressed the people of the United Kingdom, saying “We will succeed… better days will return… We will meet again.”
Queen Elizabeth II also held a strong affection for Australia and our people, visiting our country 16 times throughout her reign. Becoming the first reigning Monarch to visit Australia, Her Majesty witnessed some of our proudest national moments, including both the Melbourne and Brisbane Commonwealth Games, and opened our new Federal Parliament House in 1988. During these visits, The Queen came to South Australia on seven occasions, the last time being in 2002.
As we exit the second Elizabethan era, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II leaves us with many fond memories that live on as a source of inspiration in our nation’s eternal memory.
In the words of poet, Philip Larkin, written for The Queen’s Silver Jubilee:
In times when nothing stood
But worsened, or grew strange,
There was one constant good:
She did not change.
Vale Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. A forever grateful nation thanks you.