Talk of the Town: Coronation crowning glory or bread and circuses?

I love history and the way it echoes through modern life, so I should have been pulling up a comfy chair on Saturday night, tucking into a strange concoction of spinach, broad beans and tarragon in a quiche, and tuning into the coronation of King Charles III.

Instead, I was documenting a couple of other historic occasions - 150 years of agricultural shows at Blackall, and 35 years of the Australian Stockman's Hall of Fame with a Cobb & Co Era art exhibition opening - and I was much happier doing that.

Taking two hours to put a crown on a bloke over in England, and his consort, held little interest for me, apart from the historic references - the stone that was stolen from Scotland, for instance - but a guest at the art show in Longreach I was chatting with couldn't wait to get to her motel room and tune in.

Talking more, she grew up in the UK and I came to see that the coronation wasn't a titillating spectacle on TV, it was ingrained into her psyche.

Much as I saw a few of my friends proclaim 'God save the King' via social media on the night, after I arrived home, I didn't see the full-blown embrace of the event that was evident in this woman's eyes, and for that I'm glad.

I'm not going to go on about the expense - I switched on the TV to see that gaudy golden carriage circle the very golden memorial to Queen Victoria and take the tired-looking monarch back home - but I believe it was a $183 million bill, or thereabouts, to the UK taxpayer.

I've since read that the United Kingdom is the only European nation to hold a coronation - the eight other monarchies opt for simple inaugurations or church services to mark the accession of a new ruler - so it doesn't have to be so extravagant.

But the population over there is willing to see their money go into supporting the pomp and circumstance instead of improving health services, say, and I guess that's the meaning of 'bread and circuses' - a distraction from the serious work of living.

I think the weekend viewing showed that Australians generally regard Charles as a form of light entertainment rather than as our head of state, and I think it's time to really think about cutting those apron strings.

Even though it's probably never likely to happen again, the crown can still sack an elected Australian Prime Minister through its representative, the Governor General - I don't get why anyone would think it's OK for the head of another country to have any say in what happens here.

Don't throw the horror of a US-style presidency at me, as a reason for keeping what we have - there are many other styles of republics that are working, so that's just a lazy excuse.

But our system is working you say - so if we stripped out the GG and Governors, what would change in that system, to the actual day-to-day workings of our parliaments?

We can have a non-politically-aligned presidential position, that we respect, if we want. I think it's time that we seriously examined alternatives.

Back to the coronation, the image of Camilla on the news looking like the cat that got the cream after she was crowned was nearly too much for me to bear.

On the other hand, the street parties have been the best part of the whole show - the Big Lunch as they call it - people getting together in a spirit of camaraderie, that hopefully lingers after the day.

And the funniest part? Princess Anne outdoing Admiral Horatio Nelson with her hat. Bread and circuses indeed.

- Sally Gall, North Queensland Register senior journalist

- Talk of the North is a weekly opinion piece written by ACM journalists. The thoughts expressed are their own.

ALSO READ: