Sir and dame titles were removed from our honours in 1986, however they were briefly restored in 2014.
Superior titled people is an anathema to most Australians. Nevertheless from my unextensive research, we still have 25 sirs in Australia, and 7 dames.
Dame Marie Bashir, once a Governor of the State of New South Wales and Dame Quentin Bryce, once Governor General of Australia, were given their honours in 2014.
But just because Australia no longer has the processes of making sirs and dames, that does not mean we don't still award them, and do so at the request of what I assume are limited to Commonwealth countries. Of the remaining women for example, three were on the recommendation of the UK government, one on the recommendation of the Papua New Guinea and one on the recommendation of New Zealand.
It is similar for males, a couple in the 2014 period by Australia, but mostly requests by the UK government, one by the Queen (Sir William Hesseltine, for my UK readers), a couple by Papua New Guinea and a couple by Solomon Islands.
Perhaps this is not of great interest to many of you, and it has shattered my hopes of outliving all sirs and dames in Australia. The last was appointed in 2022, and the youngest born is 65.
Dame Quentin Bryce being invested in 2014, after her term as Governor General 2008 - 2014.
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Me? I don't bend me knee to no one, comrade.
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I'm not sure I could bend my knee:)
ReplyDeleteMe neither! We fought a war to stop bobbing down to kings! Not that I have any strong feelings about this matter.
ReplyDeleteKings queens dames ladies knights and any other award bestowed on people is all a lot of gratuitous twaddle for people who earn their living doing what they get paid for .
ReplyDeleteA friend of ours recently died , served his community for over 50 years through Lions. The best funeral ever was held in the community hall huge turnout for a down to earth man who lived for his community .his family and the dachshunds his wife bred. Not even a mention in the local rag of his passing. He would not have wanted recognition he simply lived a good life helping others in his own time without payment
Often people like you mention deserve awards but it takes someone to nominate them and I looked online and it is an arduous process, which I told in a contact with the authority. It thanked me for my input. It is disappointing that the local rag didn't have an OB for him.
Deletelol
ReplyDeleteMilitary people salute their leaders to show respect.. they don't grovel around with a deep curtsy and a lowered head.
ReplyDeleteCurtseying can't be easy in high heels.
ReplyDeleteI thought curtseying was a nice gesture. It's the feminine version of bowing by men. There are similar gestures in all cultures.
ReplyDeleteOf course, whether one has to do it to the royalty is a different question. As you would know, in Wimbledon, after a tennis match, the women players used to curtsey before the royal box before they left the court. It has since been stopped. Don't remember since when.
Here both men and women, slightly lower their heads (not at all very prominently) to show respect when they meet elderly and scholarly persons whom they know personally.
I'm not keen on the knee bending either, a small head nod when shaking hands should be sufficient in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteSirs and Dames, something I hadn't thought about for a long time, not that I needed to, Andrew.
ReplyDeleteThe Honours system has been diminished in recent decades and awards generally mean very little.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a kid, all girls had to curtsy when they greeted a woman. I don't remember how long that went on, but I think until I was 12. Of course, little girls don't do that anymore these days. I never really noticed when it stopped. As an adult, I've never met anyone I've had to curtsy to.
ReplyDeleteMaybe we can get you knighted as the national blogger.
ReplyDeleteAll part of the class system which should be abolished. Completely. Honour among thieves more the like. And we bow and bend and scrape to that dark honour???!!! Living on the largesse of their "lessers". Don't get me started. Oops I already did.
ReplyDeleteXO
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