Flags at Parliament House and on other Commonwealth buildings across the country have been lowered to half-mast as Australia begins to mourn the Queen.
“Her Majesty celebrated our good times and she stood with us during trials and hardships, happy and glorious,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a televised address on Friday morning following news of the 96-year-old monarch’s death.
Australia is not expected to observe an official mourning period for the Queen, but a national memorial is planned.
There will be a 96-gun salute in Canberra on Friday afternoon – one gunshot for every year of the Queen’s life.
Also on Friday, condolence books were being made available for Australians to sign in various states and territories, including at Parliament House.
Several MPs signed the condolence book on their way into Parliament House this morning.
Federal parliament will not sit as scheduled next week, and has been suspended for at least a fortnight.
In the first change in Australia’s head of state for seven decades, King Charles III is the country’s new monarch.
Under constitutional law, he became immediately when his mother died in Scotland early on Friday (AEST). A formal coronation might not happen for some time.
“The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral,” Buckingham Palace said in its official statement early on Friday (Australian time).
‘Her loss will be deeply felt’: King Charles’ first statement
Queen’s live of service and devotion
In coming days Mr Albanese will travel to London with Governor-General David Hurley to convey the sorrow of Australians and to meet King Charles. He will also attend the Queen’s funeral at London’s Westminster Abbey.
The Queen visited Australia 16 times during her reign, visiting every state and territory.
During her first visit to Australia in February 1954, 70 per cent of Australians turned out to catch a glimpse of the young monarch, Mr Albanese said.
“Throughout her reign Queen Elizabeth II showed her deep affection for our country,” he said.
“As she said at the Sydney Opera House in the year 2000, ‘Since I stepped ashore here, I have felt part of this rugged, honest, creative land and I have shared in the joys and sorrows, the challenges and the changes that have shaped this country’s history’.
“Her Majesty celebrated our good times, and she stood with us during trials and hardships, happy and glorious but steadfast too.
“In particular we recall the sympathy and personal kindness she extended to Australians afflicted by tragedy and disaster from floods and bushfires.”
Tweet from @Aust_Parliament
Tweet from @SenatorWong
Tweet from @HonTonyAbbott
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton also paid tribute, saying the world was yet to see a “more dutiful leader” or a “more decent human” than the Queen.
“That extraordinary life which touched so many has sadly come to an end,” he said.
“The last page has been inked on an exceptional reign … a monarch who ruled with an absolutely huge heart and wisdom both innate and gained from almost a century of life and experience.
“Her Majesty was gentle, kind and much loved.”
In a statement, former prime minister Tony Abbott said the Commonwealth had lost an “exemplar of duty, honour and faithfulness”.
“Although I served the the Australian people as prime minister, I was always conscious of a duty to her as sovereign,” he said.
“I thought the crown always lent a touch of dignity to our robust public life.
“It is so typical of this remarkable woman that she was discharging her duty till her last day on this earth.”
Tweet from @MarisePayne
Tweet from @zdaniel
Another former PM, Kevin Rudd, was in London when news broke of the Queen’s death.
“We had been watching closely the Queen’s meeting with Boris Johnson and the new Prime Minister, Liz Truss on Tuesday and then the reports about her again retreating from further work commitments,” he told the ABC on Friday.
“When we heard reports today that doctors were with her, I must admit my view and [wife] Terese’s view who was with me, ‘She will bounce back’.
Mr Rudd met the Queen several times during his tenure.
“You do get a sense of the person. So what struck me most was just her overriding commitment to the institution of the Commonwealth. It was a constant theme in her conversation,” he said.
Mr Albanese said the Queen was the only reigning monarch many had known and the only one to visit Australia.
“Today marks the end of an era the close of the second Elizabeth’s age,” he said.
“This time of mourning will pass but the deep respect and warmth regarding which Australians have always held for Her Majesty will never fade.”
-with AAP
The post Flags lowered as Australians remember ‘extraordinary’ monarch appeared first on The New Daily.
