About 1,000 people have greeted the Queen at Busselton airport in Western Australia's south-west.
The Queen arrived to the cheers of over 100 schoolchildren who waited patiently for most of the
morning.
They sang songs, waved flags and tried to catch the attention of the royal couple.
The Queen chatted briefly with wellwishers before being whisked away to a waiting car.
After the welcome the royal couple toured the local Aboriginal heritage centre.
~*~
CORRECTED - Queen to visit Northern Ireland in April to honour police(Yahoo: Reuters)
BELFAST (Reuters) - The Queen is to visit Northern Ireland next month to honour
the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) police force with the George Cross, officials
have said.
A Northern Ireland Office spokeswoman said the Queen and Prince Philip, who
are currently on a state visit to Australia, will make the one-day visit to the divided
province on April 12.
"During the one-day visit, Her Majesty will present the George Cross to the Royal
Ulster Constabulary in a ceremony at Hillsborough Castle," the spokeswoman said on Thursday.
The government announced it would award the RUC the George Cross last November.
The force is an emotive subject in Northern Ireland, where it is regarded as a courageous bulwark against paramilitary violence
by the Protestant majority but as a partisan ally of British rule by many Catholic republicans.
To reflect those concerns, the RUC is to be renamed the Northern Ireland Police Force -- a move solidly opposed in a key
vote last week by the protestant Ulster Unionist Party.
The Queen last visited Northern Ireland in 1997 to mark the RUC's 75th anniversary.
The peace process is in limbo after the British government suspended a nascent home-rule government earlier this year when
the Ulster Unionists and the IRA's political ally, Sinn Fein, failed to agree on disarmament.
During their day in the province -- when security is certain to be extra tight -- the royal couple will also attend a reception
hosted by Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Mandelson for a "cross-section of people from the rural community".
~*~
Radio first for Queen(BBC News)
The Queen has made royal history by going live
on radio in the Australian outback for a
question and answer session with
schoolchildren.
During the broadcast on
Thursday the Queen
extolled the virtues of
the internet -
encouraging youngsters
to seek out the royal
website.
Nine-year-old Nathan Sims became the first
person to ask the Queen a question live on air,
as she and the Duke of Edinburgh visited Alice
Springs in the latest leg of their two-week
Australian tour.
"Have you enjoyed your visit to Australia and
what do you think of the country and its
people?" he asked via two-way radio from his
home about 100 miles away.
In a scripted answer the Queen replied: "In
trying to answer Nathan's question I suppose I
must start, particularly this morning after flying
from Tasmania to Alice Springs, with the
impression of the sheer size of Australia.
"Here in central
Australia you are used
to great distances and
the way of life that
comes with it.
"But over the years I
have been able to see
how radio and then
television and now
computers and the
internet have reduced
the significance of
these distances."
About 20 children from the Alice Springs School
of the Air were listening to the Queen at
remote locations in central Australia.
The school - which first broadcast in 1951 -
serves some of Australia's most remote and
isolated areas in Northern Territory.
The Queen said: "The School of the Air
continues to have a special role to play.
"Next year it will be celebrating its 50 years of
ensuring that all of you in far-off communities
can learn your school work and enjoy the
company of other children."
Sophie Leigh, 11,
listening at Murray
Downs Station 250
miles away, told the
Queen how she used a
home computer and
surfed the internet.
Unscripted, the Queen
replied: "That sounds
really interesting. The
internet is obviously
one of the things that
everyone can get to
know.
"We actually ourselves have a web site - you
must find it one day."
An 8,000-strong crowd packed the main street
of Alice Springs to welcome the royals, in
temperatures topping 90F.
Following her radio broadcast, the Queen and
Prince Philip visited Alice Springs Desert Park.
There they watched a ceremonial dance by
bare-breasted aboriginal women and were
offered - and declined - "bush tucker" to eat.
~*~
THE QUEEN'S RESPONSE TO A QUESTION FROM NATHAN SIMS, PUPIL AT THE SCHOOL OF THE AIR, ALICE SPRINGS, 30TH MARCH 2000(Buckingham Palace News)
The Queen was asked by nine-year old pupil Nathan Sims: "Have you
enjoyed your visit to Australia and what do you think of the country
and its people?"
Her Majesty replied:
Thank you Nathan and I am grateful to the Principal for giving me
this opportunity to speak on the School of the Air to all of you
listening today.
In trying to answer Nathan's question I suppose I must start,
particularly this morning after flying from Tasmania to Alice
Springs, with the impression of the sheer size of Australia. Here in
Central Australia you are used to great distances and the way of life
that comes with it. But over the years I have been able to see how
radio and then television and now computers and the Internet have
reduced the significance of these distances.
The School of the Air continues to have a special role to play.
Next year it will be celebrating its fifty years of ensuring that all
of you in far-off communities can learn your schoolwork and enjoy the
company of other children. The School today brings you together from
an area of over a million square kilometres and makes a most
important contribution to strengthening your community out here.
Another vivid impression I have is how fast Australia is growing.
This is easy to see in the cities where the skylines and the
buildings change so dramatically from year to year. For example on
this visit I saw the facilities for the Olympics in Sydney, almost
all of which had not been started the last time I was here. But
progress is evident everywhere, including outside the big cities.
Last time I came to Alice Springs was thirty-seven years ago and you
can imagine how much it has developed since then. I have just been
walking down the Todd Mall which did not even exist when I was last
here. I should also mention that it was certainly not as green as it
is now and I am pleased that you have had the welcome rains.
But my strongest impression is of course of the people I have
met. I have enjoyed meeting and talking to so many over these past
ten days in Australia: young and old, Aboriginals and those from
immigrant communities, and others from many different backgrounds and
all walks of life. And both Prince Philip and I have been immensely
grateful for the warmth of the welcome we have received everywhere we
have been. This has been true here in Alice Springs and it has been
a delight for us both to come back today.
Thank you all for joining in and good luck to each of you with
your school studies.
~*~
Dunaway To Star In Diana Film(Yahoo: PA)
Faye Dunaway is to star in a British film - The Biographer - about Diana, Princess of Wales.
The Hollywood Reporter says the film details the events surrounding the writing of the best-selling
biography of Diana, who died in a Paris car crash in August 1997.
Dunaway, star of such films as Bonnie and Clyde, plays a journalist covering the Royal Family.