Australian Defence Force
The Crown has a symbolic place in the Australian Defence Force, which consists of the Royal Australian Navy, Australian Army, and Royal Australian Air Force.
Section 68 of the Australian Constitution says: "The command in chief of the naval and military forces of the Commonwealth is vested in the Governor-General as the Queen's representative." In practice, however, the Governor-General does not play any part in the ADF's command structure and the ADF is under the control of the Minister for Defence and several subordinate ministers. The Minister advises the Governor-General who acts as advised in the normal form of executive government.
Australian naval vessels bear the prefix Her Majesty's Australian Ship (HMAS). The Royal Australian Regiment (RAR) which makes up most of the Infantry Corps and many other regiments carry the 'Royal' prefix. Members of the Royal Family have presided over military ceremonies, including Trooping the Colours, inspections of the troops, and anniversaries of key battles. Whenever the Queen is in Canberra she lays a wreath at the Australian War Memorial. In 2003, Elizabeth II acted in her capacity as Australian monarch when she dedicated the Australian War Memorial in Hyde Park, London.
Some members of the Royal Family are Colonels-in-Chief of Australian regiments, including: the Royal Regiment of Australian Artillery; Royal Australian Army Medical Corps; the Royal Australian Armoured Corps and the Royal Australian Corps of Signals, amongst many others. The Queen's husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, is an Admiral of the Fleet in right of the Royal Australian Navy, Marshal of the Royal Australian Air Force, and Field Marshal of the Australian Army.
On 22 October 2011 at the Royal Military College, Duntroon in Canberra, the Queen of Australia presented new Sovereign's Colours to the Australian Defence Force.
Read more about this topic: List Of Australian Monarchs
Famous quotes containing the words australian, defence and/or force:
“Beyond the horizon, or even the knowledge, of the cities along the coast, a great, creative impulse is at work—the only thing, after all, that gives this continent meaning and a guarantee of the future. Every Australian ought to climb up here, once in a way, and glimpse the various, manifold life of which he is a part.”
—Vance Palmer (1885–1959)
“Mankind have such a deep stake in inward illumination, that there is much to be said by the hermit or monk in defence of his life of thought and prayer.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“The Force is with you, young Skywalker, but you are not a Jedi yet.”
—Leigh Brackett (1915–1978)