THE PRIME MINISTERS

"It is a basic truth that for our Queen we have within us, sometimes unrealised until the moment of expression, the most profound and passionate feelings of loyalty and devotion." - Robert Menzies

"Your Majesty, your visits here give the people of Australia an opportunity to demonstrate the affection with which you, and your family are regarded in this country." - Bob Hawke

"I like the Queen ... and I think she liked me." - Paul Keating

"She is a woman of remarkable commitment to duty. The greatest quality she has brought to her position is an unflagging sense of duty and commitment." - John Howard

"There is a deep affection in Australia for the Queen. And I mean the Queen's been the Queen ever since I was born. I mean she is part of the firmament of Australia's sort of national life; there's a deep respect for her role." - Kevin Rudd

"We are, as you once so rightly said, 'a country on the move and will go on being so'. But we know this for a certainty: your journey of service will continue all the length of your days." - Julia Gillard

"Your Majesty, while 11 Australian prime ministers and no less than 17 opposition leaders have come and gone, for 60 years you have been a presence in our national story and given the vagaries of public life, I'm confident that this will not be the final tally of the politicians that you have outlasted." - Tony Abbott

"All I can say is ... most Republicans are Elizabethans as well." - Malcolm Turnbull

WHAT THE QUEEN HAS SAID ABOUT AUSTRALIA

"I am proud indeed to be at the head of a nation that has achieved so much." - After arriving in Sydney on the SS Gothic in 1954.

"Canberra is a lovely city, and I am sure you must be glad to live here. It is the focus of the nation, and a symbol that tells us although Australians are spread over a vast continent, and are divided into six states, they are still one people." - School children's welcome in Canberra, 1954.

"I follow events in Australia with much interest and admiration. Most impressive has been the rapid growth of a distinctive and independent Australian thought." - Parliament House reception speech, Canberra 1963.

"Among people who are so essentially New Zealanders, Canadians or Australians, it struck me again that so many of them still have affectionate and personal links with the British Isles." - Christmas speech 1970, following a tour of Australia.

"Of course, we do not know what was going through the mind of Captain Phillip when he stepped ashore at Sydney Cove, but I am sure he could never have imagined such an event as this." - Australia's bicentenary, Canberra 1988.

"The problems in this country ... have been compounded by severe drought, and, more recently, by flooding. The qualities of the Australian people and the resources of the Australian continent, however, continue to hold abundant promise even in the face of such economic and climatic adversity." - Opening of NSW Parliament, 1992.

"I can think of no better way to begin this two-week visit this morning than at the Sydney Opera House, recognised and acknowledged everywhere as a symbol of Australia's determination to make its mark in the world as such a lively, distinctive and innovative nation." - Sydney Opera House speech, 2000.

"Whatever the future may bring, my lasting respect and deep affection for Australia and Australians everywhere will remain as strong as ever." - Sydney Opera House speech, March 2000.

"There has been a growing confidence; an increasingly global outlook; a recognition of the distinctive contribution of indigenous Australians; and the natural realisation that Australians can take on the best in the world and excel." - speech at Adelaide Festival Hall, 2002.

"It is always a pleasure to come back to the State of Victoria, which holds so many memories for me and all my family. It is especially rewarding to return here to the wonderfully maintained Royal Exhibition Building which has connections with my family going back to when my grandfather opened the first Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901." - Australian Prime Minister's Commonwealth Games luncheon, Melbourne 2006.

"Ever since I first came here in 1954, I have watched Australia grow and develop at an extraordinary rate. This country has made dramatic progress economically, in social, scientific and industrial endeavours and, above all, in self-confidence." - Parliament House in Canberra, 2011.

Australian Associated Press