Summary

Baton and stand, made for the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games Queen's Baton Relay. A total of five identical batons were used in the 366-day relay (14 March 2005 - 15 March 2006) that visited every nation in the Commonwealth. They were designed and assembled by Melbourne product design company Charlwood Design from parts made by 23 Australian companies. The front face of the baton contains the detachable Queen's Message Button a digital storage device onto which the Queen's Message to the Athletes of the XVIII Commonwealth Games was encoded.

The stand for the baton was made to be used while the relay was underway. It includes a socket for the base of the baton, with a connection point that runs to a battery charger, so that the baton could be charged overnight.

The Queen's Baton Relay has been the traditional curtain-raiser to the Commonwealth Games since 1958. It symbolises the gathering of people from across the Commonwealth. On 14 March 2005 Her Majesty placed a message in the baton at Buckingham Palace, signalling the start of a journey of almost 180,000 kilometres. The baton's journey to the opening ceremony took exactly one year and one day, the first baton relay to visit all 71 nations of the Commonwealth. Athletes and non-athletes alike carried the baton.

The final four Queen's Baton runners were Cathy Freeman, Ron Clarke, Marjorie Jackson-Nelson and John Landy. Landy was given the privilege of presenting the baton to the Queen.
The tracksuit and shoes that he wore on the occasion are held in the collection of Museums Victoria. It is not recorded if this particular baton was the one he presented. It was given to the Victorian Government by the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games Corporation.

Physical Description

Baton with stand. The shape of the baton is variously described as being inspired by gum leaves or an athlete in motion. The front panel is made from lacquered machined titanium, inset with 36 plastic lenses. A number of LED lights are set under each lens. It is slightly convex and varies in width - base is narrower than top, with a narrower 'waist a at approximately 250mm from base. Close to the top of the baton is the 'Queen's Message Button' a removable circular disk of machined aluminium, bearing the logo of the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games. The button contains a digital storage device. The rear panel of the baton is made of two sections. The upper section is a lens coated in gold, which although it is opaque, allows the lights contained under the lens to be seen when activated. The lower section is a cast polycarbonate plastic, dark green in colour. An electrical connection point is located near the base of the baton, which allows its batteries to be recharged. The Stand is circular and domed. It has an outer casing of spun aluminium, with a plastic sleeve for the base of the Baton at the centre. The Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games Athletic Spirit is printed, in green and red, on the front of the aluminium. The stand is heavy.

Significance

This Queen's Baton was made for the eponymous relay staged between 14 March 2005 and 15 March 2006 in the lead up to the Commonwealth Games staged in Melbourne. The Baton Relay began at Buckingham Palace, London, England, when Queen Elizabeth passed the baton to model and celebrity Elle Macpherson. It ended 366 days later when the last runner, the then Victorian Governor John Landy, returned the baton to her during the Opening Ceremony of the Games, at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on March 15 2006.

The tradition of the Queen's baton Relay was begun in 1954 when runners carried a Baton from Buckingham Palace to Cardiff in Wales. The 2005-2006 relay, was the first to visit all the 71 nations of the Commonwealth (as of 2005 - 2006), was intended to promote Games to the people and athletes of the Commonwealth.

The primary purpose of the baton is to carry a message from the Queen to the Athletes competing in the Commonwealth Games. This baton was the first to have the message as a digital file. The message was stored on a digital memory device inside the Queen's Message Button, which HRH Queen Elizabeth II affixed to the Baton at the start of the relay. It remained in a digital form for the year and a day that the Relay lasted.

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