WHEN THE KING OPENED THE AUSTRALIAN PARLIAMENT.
A GREAT TREK. A great trek undertaken by King George was the Empire tour in the Ophir in 1901. This was a fifty-thousand-mile journey, on which his Queen accompanied him. Proceeding by Gibraltar, the Mediterranean, Suez, and the Red Sea, the Royal pair touched at Colombo, then went on to Singapore, to Perth, to Adelaide, to Melbourne, and to Brisbane, Sydney, Auckland, Christchurch, and Dunedin. Next Durban was visited, then Cape Town, and then Halifax, Quebec, and St. John's, Newfoundland. Even those who take a delight in referring to the "easy life" of Royalty will modify their opinions if they consider the wear and tear inflicted by a prolonged journey such as tht Ophir cruise. King George is not a particularly good sailor, and in a fifty-thousand-mile voyage patches of bad weather are bound to be encountered. Again, the King's health is not robust, but, however ill hf may have felt, there was always the necessity of wearing a bright smile and an appearance of boundless enjoyment. Everywhere the Royal couple received a rapturous welcome. The moving experiences of a lifetime were packed into brief months. The King opened the first Parliament of Federated Australia at Melbourne ; in New Zealand Maoris danced the War Poi-poi dance before him and the Queen ; their Majesties ate the regulation lumberman's meal of soup, pork, beans, and hot, milklese tea, served in tin plates in a "combose" or lumberman's hut in Canada., In a word, they entered thoroughly into almost every phase of Imperial life. A pleasant musical incident occurred when the degree of LL.D. was conferred on His Majesty at the Sydney University. The proceeding* as usual on these occasions, were uproarious, and the formalities preceding the presentation of degrees were more or less smothered by the singing of a special "anthem" composed I for the occasion. It went to the tune of "A Life on the Ocean Wave," and the chorus ran thus Let every man with a voice His power of lung display,, Yell loudly and rejoice, For the Jook is coming to-day ; The Jook —the Jook —the Jook is coming to-day. This breezy number amused the "Jook" very much. During the Ophir tour the King shook hands with thirty-five thousand people, delivered nearly one hundred speeches, and distributed one hundred and fifty titles.—"Royal Maga sine."
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King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 372, 24 June 1911, Page 6
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392WHEN THE KING OPENED THE AUSTRALIAN PARLIAMENT. King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 372, 24 June 1911, Page 6
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