Today is the Queen’s Birthday public holiday. The birthday of the British monarch has been celebrated in Australia from the earliest days of European settlement. As Ken Inglis explained in The Australian Colonists, Arthur Phillip, in the name of King George III, proclaimed the colony of New South Wales on 7 February 1788. A few months later, on 4 June 1788, the colony observed its first public holiday— the King’s 50th Birthday.
King George III featured on Resolution and Adventure Medal, 1772
The history spark 