Queen Who?
Little Sol Masters had Britain's Queen Elizabeth non-plussed during her visit to the Western Australian town of Busselton on Friday.
After the unruly 3-year-old had reduced one of his playmates to tears with a smack on the head just as the queen entered their classroom, he twice blurted out at the monarch: "What's your name?"
The queen looked perplexed for a moment - most people after all do know who she is - and then decided to ignore the question.
The queen, wearing a coral-pink floral suit with matching hat, smiled as some of the spectators sang Waltzing Matilda, Australia's unofficial national song. Later, about 3,000 people looked on as the royal couple took a relaxed stroll through displays of food and wine from the region.
Teacher Sue Merry explained afterwards that while she had been telling kindergarten pupils at Busselton's Vasse Primary School about the queen's tour of Australia for several weeks, Sol had only been in class for the past two days.
He was, it appeared, the only child in the class unaware of the 16-day royal visit to Australia, which ends on Saturday.
"He missed it all," Merry told reporters.
Jacinta Haywood, 4, the victim of Sol's apparently unprovoked attack, was meanwhile in floods of tears.
The queen's husband, Prince Philip, was highly amused at the antics of two other small boys, who started to scrap in front of the royal couple during school assembly. An embarrassed teacher had to separate the young brawlers as the queen and the prince looked on.
More than 6,000 people turned out to welcome the queen to Busselton, a popular seaside resort 120 miles south of the Western Australian state capital of Perth, which she visited for the first time during her coronation tour of Australia 46 years ago.
Earlier on Friday, the queen met Noongar Aboriginal tribe elders Vilma and George Webb, who presented her with a boomerang, a curved stick used for hunting. The queen and Prince Philip also were shown a display of indigenous herbs and plants used by Aboriginal people as food and medicine.
As Aboriginal dancers performed to the drone of the didgeridoo, Mitchella Hutchins - also known as Rainbow Girl - guided the queen round the exhibit, which included emu plums, bush onions and a medicinal plant described as snottygobble.
"She is a very regal lady," said Hutchins. "As my grandparents used to say, you don't necessarily have to be a royalist to pay respect to recognized elders of another country."
Hutchins was glad that the queen had during her visit to Australia shown an interest in the plight of the Aboriginal people.
"With her tight schedule we have been privileged that she was able to give us her time," she said.
Didgeridoo player Bill Webb, whose Aboriginal name means the Big Eagle, added: "We have our own kings and queens in this area but we like this one too."
On Saturday, the royals were scheduled to open a training center fr surgeons in Perth and visit the city's State War Memorial before flying back to Britain.