WHEN horse racing legend Bart Cummings entered Government House to meet the Queen, the Spring racing carnival was on the trainer's mind.
''I hope you back a winner,'' he said.
The Queen smiled and replied: ''Thank you, but I don't bet''.
Cummings, who has trained 12 Melbourne Cup winners, spent several minutes chatting with her majesty, who is a keen horse enthusiast and has previously visited Flemington race course.
Oscar winner Geoffrey Rush was among the group of distinguished Australians who dined with the Queen and Prince Philip yesterday. Rush, who played King George VI's speech therapist in the Hollywood blockbuster The King's Speech, was joined by Paralympic gold medallist Kurt Fearnley and indigenous leader and activist June Oscar.
Chatting in the Government House drawing room before lunch, the Queen smiled and laughed with her dining companions and said she was enjoying her 16th Australian trip. ''It's nice to be back again,'' she said.
Kurt and Sheridan Fearnley also talked to the Queen before lunch, and she asked Fearnley about next year's Paralympics, at which he will compete.
Fearnley also made headlines in 2009 when he crawled the 96-kilometre Kokoda Track raising money and awareness for men's health.
Guests were introduced to the Queen and Prince Phillip, as well as the Governor-General, Quentin Bryce, and her husband Michael Bryce, in the drawing room of Government House.
A group photo was taken.
Some of the other Australian leaders at the event included the director of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Professor Douglas Hilton; the co-founder of the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital in Ethiopia, Catherine Hamlin; art dealer and philanthropist Phillip Bacon; wine producers Michael and Stacey Hill Smith; comedian Anh Do; and the Myer Foundation director Rupert Myer.
At lunch Geoffrey Rush was seated next to Joy Hillier, a Victorian teacher with 40 years experience.
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