Bob Kucera

Bob Kucera

Former Minister for Disability Services; Sport and Recreation; Citizenship and Multicultural Interests; Seniors

    WA to host Commonwealth Games Queen's Baton Relay

    12/05/2005 12:00 AM
     
    12/05/05

    Sports Minister Bob Kucera announced today that Western Australia would stage part of the Melbourne 2006 Queen’s Baton Relay in the lead-up to the 2006 Commonwealth Games.

    The relay will visit more than 500 towns as the baton travels across Australia to arrive in Melbourne on March 15, 2006.

    Mr Kucera said the relay offered WA the opportunity to showcase some of its unique lifestyle, the quality of our services and some of our best tourist attractions, particularly in our regional areas.

    “The baton relay provides us the opportunity to think about the unity we all find in sporting events and the chance for the community to show their support by participating in the relay,” he said.

    “There is an opportunity for every Western Australian to apply for the chance to be part of the baton relay and join this historic event.”

    The Melbourne 2006 Queen’s Baton arrives at its 71st and final Commonwealth destination, Australia, on January 24, 2006.

    The baton will begin the national leg of its journey the following day with a two-day relay around Sydney, coinciding with the Australia Day celebrations.

    It will then travel 21,500km across Australia - 9,700km by road, 9,300km by air, 1,000km by sea and 1,500km by rail. Along the way it will visit more than 500 Australian communities, be carried by 3,500 relay runners and travel on 45 different modes of transport as it concludes its historic one year and one day journey across the Commonwealth.

    The baton will visit all States and Territories and all capital cities of Australia in the final 50 days of its epic journey from Buckingham Palace to the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games.

    Mr Kucera said the relay marked the final countdown in the lead-up to the Commonwealth Games.

    Along with relays through towns and cities, community festivities would also include daily ‘lunch stop’ visits to local schools and sporting facilities and evening ceremonies to officially welcome the baton’s arrival.

    The Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games Queen’s Baton Relay started from Buckingham Palace on March 14, with Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II passing the baton to Australian icon, supermodel and businesswoman Elle Macpherson - the first of many thousands of relay runners to carry the baton across the globe.

    When the Melbourne 2006 Queen’s Baton arrives at the opening ceremony of the XVIII Commonwealth Games, it will have traveled more than 180,000km, across every continent and over every ocean and for the first time, visited every Commonwealth nation. The baton is currently in Nigeria, the 14th of its 71 Commonwealth destinations.

    The official anthem of the Melbourne 2006 Queen’s Baton Relay is ‘I am Strong’, performed by four-piece Melbourne group, NORTH. It is a moving tribute to success in the face of adversity.

    The Australian leg of the Queens’ Baton Relay is funded by the Australian Government and is a joint initiative of the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games Corporation, and the relay’s Presenting Partner, Telstra; Tourism Partner, Tourism Australia; and sponsors, National Australia Bank and Qantas.

    Details of the exact route the relay will travel through WA and information about community celebrations will be released later in the year.

    For information about the Queen’s Baton Relay visit http://www.melbourne2006.com.au

    Minister's office: 9213 7000