The cross and the lady

It took Australia 107 years to appoint the first female as Governor General, yet it took a few minutes for Quentin Alice Louise Bryce, the 25th Governor General of Australia, to captivate the hearts and minds of the Maltese community when, at her request, she met them at the Maltese Centre, La Valette, at Blacktown NSW last Monday.

It gave the High Commissioner of Malta in Australia, Francis Tabone, less than a week to organise a meeting with the Maltese community that also took the Governor General and her husband, Michael Bryce, an adjunct professor of design, to the nearby St Dominic's Maltese Aged Care Facility. The Governor General of Australia, on her first trip overseas, is planning to visit Malta, arriving on the island on November 14.

Quentin Alice Louise Bryce AC née Wetzel, born in Brisbane Queensland on December 23, 1942, was former Governor of Queensland. She attended the University of Queensland, where she completed a Bachelor of arts and a degree in law, becoming one of the first women accepted to the Queensland bar.

In 1968, she became the first woman to be a faculty member of the law school where she had studied and, in 1978, she joined the new National Women's Advisory Council. This was followed by a number of positions, including becoming the first director of the Queensland Women's Information Service, the Queensland director of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission and the Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner in 1988.

Her services to the community saw her appointed as an Officer of the Order of Australia in 1988 and as a Companion of the Order of Australia and Dame of the Order of St John of Jerusalem in 2003.

Ms Bryce was appointed by a fellow Queenslander, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, and was sworn in as the Governor General of Australia on September 5.

While she made history by being appointed to the country's top non-elected office, her period as Governor of the State of Queensland brought into focus again a long debate about how the Maltese cross was actually chosen for the coat of arms of Queensland. It appears that the Maltese cross has a stranger history than the rest of the elements upon the arms of the Australian state.

Not even the Queensland government is aware of why the Maltese cross was chosen for the coat of arms.

Briefly, the story is that on August 23, 1873, the Secretary of State for the Colonies circulated a notice among the various colonies on the adoption of distinctive badges. When this request was received in Queensland, the then acting Colonial Secretary, W. Hemmant, wrote to the then Governor, W.W. Cairns, and among other things stated: "If your Lordship should be pleased to adopt the proposed device of the Maltese cross with the crown in the centre as the future badge of the colony for the Governor and government vessels, an intimation to that effect would receive the immediate attention of the executive council".

On July 16, 1876, in a dispatch to the Governor of Queensland, the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty approved the device submitted.

On November 29, 1876, it appeared on the Government Gazette, Volume XIX, and No. 64.

Who influenced London to include the Maltese cross is in my view the point of focus. It is not known exactly why the Maltese cross with a superimposed crown was chosen as suitable badge.

Over the years, various theories have been propounded. The one given best credence is that as the Victoria cross was first bestowed in 1857 by Queen Victoria at the close of the Crimean War and, since Queensland was established in 1859, it would be a natural association of ideas to ally Queensland with the Victoria cross, which is a form of the Maltese cross with royal arms and lion superimposed.

There is a latter theory that in fact it was either the first Governor of Queensland, Sir George Ferguson Bowen, or his wife, Greek-born Lady Diamantina, daughter of Count Candiano di Roma, who influenced the decision but the inclusion of the Maltese cross was not put forward until 1876 - quiet some time after Governor Bowen left Queensland.

Sir George retired to England after having served as the British Secretary to the Ionian Islands between 1854-1859. Between 1859 and 1868, he was Governor of Queensland, New Zealand 1868-73, Mauritius (Ile Maurice) 1879-83 and Hong Kong 1883-87.

He was appointed as chief of a royal commission, which was sent to Malta with regard to the new Constitution for the island in December 1887. All recommendations made by Sir George were adopted. He could have also been offered the Governorship of Malta in 1888 but never made it. He died in 1899.

The debate about the Maltese cross and the coat of arms should came into focus again as the former Governor of the State of Queensland and now the 25th Governor General of Australia visits Malta next week.