Queen’s Official Birthday
The A-Team
李竤頡 林聖堯 朱冠乙 張浚圻
陳騏勝 楊尚為 廖信郎 賴又銘
What is The Queen’s Birthday?
The Queen’s Official Birthday, or you can call
it The Queen’s Birthday.
While Queen Elizabeth celebrates her actual
birthday on 21 April, she also has an official
birthday, and this festival is usually held in
June. But why is in June? That’s because the
weather in June is better than any other month
in a year in the UK, so the King Edward VII
decided to organize activity in June. Because
of that, Australians and New Zealanders, but
June is their winter.
In the UK, this activity is usually held on
Saturdays, but in Australia or New Zealand,
this activity is held on Mondays, and it became
an official holidays for three days.
Why do they celebrate it?
New Zealand and Australia were
colonies of the United Kingdom.
How?
In Australia, each place has the public
fireworks performance. There are also
matches are traditionally played by The
Australian Football League clubs .
We got fun facts!
1. Most New Zealanders and some
Australians don’t care about the meaning
of this holiday anymore. It only means
the beginning of the snow season to
them.
2. The Australian Capital Territory will only
allow the fireworks to the public when
Queen’s Official Birthday is close.
What does Louise, the pen
pal say about the holiday?
Jack Chang & Jacky Lin
9/22: The First Letter to Louise
Dear Louise,
Hi! I'm Jack Chang. How's your high school life going? I'm sorry that
I haven't kept in touch with you for about 3 weeks. That was because
of my broken computer.
I live in the northeast county called Yilan in Taiwan. I like to enjoy
delicious food and make tours.
This semester, I take a special course named ‘International
Culture Cass’. The teachers made us do reports on foreign
festivals, or holidays this week. And I'm thinking of e-mailing
you and ask some questions about ‘the Queen's Birthday’ in New
Zealand. We students in Taiwan learned few about the Queen's
Birthday. The only thing I know is that the exact date of the
celebration varies from country to country. However, I would
really like to know more about the reason why the date is
different from one country to another. What would people in
New Zealand do to celebrate the Queen's Birthday? Do you love
this day, why or why not? What’s more, are there any other
festivals, or holidays that you like in New Zealand? Would you
share some with me?
Hope to hear from you soon.
Jack
9/25: The Reply from Louise
Hi Jack
I don't actually know much about the Queens birthday. As far as
I know, it is a symbolic celebration of the Queen's birthday,
though I'm not sure which queen, the current, past, etc. We
celebrate this because New Zealand was originally a colony of
England, and now is an independent state or something with the
queen as the head of state. We don't celebrate it much - all it
means to us is a day off school. In fact, the only celebrations we
actually celebrate is Easter, (with lots of Easter Eggs and chocolate) ,
Christmas, New Year's and Guy Fawkes (with fireworks) and stuff like
the winter solstice, the summer solstice and Chinese New Years some
people celebrate. The winter and summer solstices are the longest and
shortest days of the year. Another celebration is Otago Anniversary
Day. This is only celebrated in Otago (where I live) , it is the day of the
founding of otago. Different regions have different anniversary days.
Again, all this means to me is a day off school. Another celebration
is ANZAC day, when we remember all the soldiers that have died in war.
//for some people, it's a big deal, but not for our family.
School life is going brilliantly - because it's the holidays! I don't have
any school for two weeks. How about you?
Louise
The 3 meanings of the day for Louise
It is a symbolic celebration of the
Queen's birthday.
 We celebrate this because New
Zealand was originally a colony of
England.
 We don't celebrate it much - all it
means to us is a day off school.

Queen's official Birthday 2009
Britain's Queen Elizabeth and Prince
Philip wave from the balcony of
Buckingham Palace after attending the
Trooping the Colour ceremony in
London June 13, 2009.
Queen Elizabeth II smiles.
Work Cited
•
"No Celebrations For Queen's Birthday." Scoop - New Zealand News (2009): n. pag. Web. 25 Sep 2010.
<http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0905/S00419.htm>.
•
"Happy Birthday - whenever it is." BBC News (2001): n. pag. Web. 25 Sep 2010.
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/uk/2001/birthday_honours_2001/1390951.stm>.
•
Rivera, Larry. "Queen's Birthday Holiday." About.com (2006): n. pag. Web. 25 Sep 2010.
<http://goaustralia.about.com/cs/eventsfestivals/a/queensbirthday.htm>.
•
"Trooping the Colour: thousands celebrate the Queen's official birthday." Telegraph (2009): n. pag. Web. 26 Sep
2010. <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/theroyalfamily/5524708/Trooping-the-Colour-thousandscelebrate-the-Queens-official-birthday.html>.
•
"Britain celebrates queen's official birthday." China Daily (2009): n. pag. Web. 26 Sep 2010.
<http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2009-06/14/content_8282016_4.htm>.