Australia debates The Big Picture

Queen Elizabeth of England ... and Australia

By CNN's Grant Holloway

CANBERRA, Australia (CNN) -- A commemorative painting from the turn of the last century has become an unlikely talking point in Australia's ongoing debate over the nation's constitutional status.

The picture in question belongs to the British-based monarch Queen Elizabeth II -- and some Australians want it back.

The Big Picture, by Australian artist Tom Roberts, depicts the opening of Australia's first Parliament in 1901, and is considered a cultural touchstone in the historical development of the Australian nation.

It was given to Queen Elizabeth's great grandfather, Edward VII in 1904, and has subsequently stayed in the possession of the Windsor royal family.

But now historians, academics, and even the Premier of the State of Victoria Steve Bracks, have written to the Queen, asking for possession to revert to the Australian people.

So far, the answer has been a polite, but firm, "no".

The painting does, after all, hang in Australia's Parliament House in Canberra, the nation's capital. And it is on permanent loan from the Queen to Australia, meaning it is unlikely to ever be crated up and shipped off to Buckingham Palace.

A 'republican stunt'

More importantly, as the Queen's people point out, Her Majesty is still the Queen of Australia and, as such, head of state of that country. Therefore, it is already owned by Australia anyway.

National convenor for Australians for the Constitutional Monarchy David Flint says the issue of ownership is merely a stunt by Australian republicans.

"Australians have all the benefits of seeing the painting. I don't think this issue can be taken seriously," Flint told CNN.

But art historian Julie Cotter from Monash University, the author of the original request to the Queen for the return of the painting, disagrees.

"I believe it is important for Australian citizens to have ownership of their own cultural heritage," she said.

"The Queen is a British citizen, not an Australian citizen. While she is constitutionally Queen of Australia, it is not appropriate that she should own this painting."

A matter of principle

Cotter said the ownership issue was not one of republicanism versus monarchism; she would have asked for the painting back if it had been given to the president of the United States.

She agrees that the painting is unlikely to actually be returned to the United Kingdom, but for her, and, many other Australians, the principle of the matter is important.

"Australians have so little cultural heritage its citizens have a right to own this painting," she said.

And who knows what might happen next? A future Australian monarch residing in the United Kingdom might just take a fancy to The Big Picture and want to hang it in the royal drawing room after all.