JACK EVANS, REPORTER: Hear, hear, the King and Queen were here. Yes. Yes, last week Australians went all out for King Charles and Queen Camilla.

PERSON: I would probably like to give this to them, I did this last night, and these are flowers from our garden.

REPORTER: Have you made any practice in delivering flowers?

PERSON: I didn’t rehearse delivering the flowers. But I rehearsed my greeting.

The Royal Couple were in Australia for a Royal Visit. It is the first royal visit since King Charles became king.

KING CHARLES: By the way, I first came to Australia about 60 years ago, which is a bit worrying.

While they were here, they were greeted with some gloomy weather, some not so gloomy weather, streets lined with thousands of Aussies eager to say good day, and also a good old fashioned Aussie BBQ. And while many Australians were pretty excited to see the king and queen, others weren’t as impressed.

LIDIA THORPE, VICTORIA SENATOR: This is not your land. This is not your land. You are not my king.

I am Senator Lidia Thorpe, who is not shy about voicing her opinion on issues she cares about, and last week was no exception when she protested during a royal reception with the King and Queen in Parliament House.

LIDIA THORPE, VICTORIA SENATOR: Give us back our lands. Give us what you stole from us. Give us a deal. We want agreement in this country.

The whole thing caught the world’s attention, and many politicians and Indigenous leaders criticized Thorpe, saying his protest was disrespectful and that he could have delivered his message differently.

PATRICK GORMAN, DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER: I thought this behavior was quite inappropriate. I think it alienates a lot of people.

SUSAN McDONALD, SHADOW RESOURCES MINISTER: I think we get a lot more done when we work together, and I didn’t think that was a productive way of working at all.

For others, meanwhile, the whole incident has sparked a debate about the British monarchy and its relevance to Australia. You see Australia is a constitutional monarchy, which basically means the King is our head of state. From where? When Captain Cook landed here in 1770, he declared Australia Terra Nullius, or land belonging to no one. This wasn’t true, First Nations people had been here for tens of thousands of years. However, despite this, the land was claimed for the British Crown.

When Australia became a federation in 1901 we had a Prime Minister but we kept the King as our head of state. A lot has changed since then. Australia is no longer part of the British Empire and many Australians have no ancestral ties to the United Kingdom. Many people have come to see the British Monarchy as a symbol of colonialism and the mistreatment of First Nations people in Australia. Over the years, many people have debated whether we should ditch the British all together and move to a republic, a form of government without a king, queen or monarch. Instead, someone is chosen to represent the country as head of state.

However, in order to become a republic, a referendum or a large popular vote must be held to change the constitution. This actually happened in 1999, but Australians voted against it. While Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says he is not against Australia becoming a republic, he says now is not the right time. Lidia Thorpe says that an agreement with First Nations people should be part of the future Australian republic, and many people agree. Others hope there will be many more royal visits to come. So what do you think?

CHILD 1: I don’t think it makes sense for someone on the other side of the world to control big decisions.

CHILD 2: I really don’t care about the king. I know it’s a big part of Australian history, but I think we should be making history rather than focusing on our past history.

CHILD 3: Yes, I think we should be a republic because I think that would improve Australia’s culture by electing someone from Australia.

CHILD 4: I think the presence of the King and Queen is not felt much in Australia and therefore being a republic would not make much difference.