Wearing an electric blue suit with scarlet lips and trademark gold earrings, lawyer, academic and women’s activist Quentin Bryce was sworn in today as Australia's first female governor general.
In a formal ceremony held at the Senate chamber in Canberra, the 65-year-old grandmother became the country's 25th Governor General, breaking a 107-year-long male stranglehold on the vice regal role.
Watched by her five grandchildren, she told the assembled dignitaries, including Prime Minister Kevin Rudd: "Australians, you have entrusted a great deal to me. I will honour your trust wholeheartedly." Ms Bryce, who succeeds Major General Michael Jeffery in the role, has declared her appointment a "breakthrough" for Australian women and even Republicans have described it as enlightened.
While the role of Governor General is largely anachronistic, the very fact that a woman is in the job will turn the spotlight back on a role that has been largely invisible in recent years.
A feminist who has used charisma rather than belligerence to get her way, Ms Bryce is a renowned trailblazer for women, and is highly respected for the way she made her name, especially in 1960s and '70s macho Australia. Raised with her sisters in the small outback town of Ilfracombe in Queensland, she laid a trail of firsts before she turned 30.
She graduated from law school when she was pregnant with the first of her children with the architect, Michael Bryce. She was then the first woman to be admitted to the Queensland bar, and the first female law lecturer at the University of Queensland.
As a sex discrimination commissioner, she became a renowned champion of women's rights and, as governor of Queensland, she was known for her battles for the rights of women and of the indigenous people. Ms Bryce stepped down after five years in the Queensland post to take on the Governor General position.
Her friends talk of how she used her charm to placate the men who tried to block her rise. When she first entered the common room of Queensland's law faculty 40 years ago, one of her male colleagues - enraged at having a woman amongst them - greeted her : "Why aren't you at home with your five children, cooking dinner?" She silenced him with an icy smile.
"She was given a terrible time by those men in the law faculty," her long time friend Kay Saunders, director of the Brisbane Institute, recalls. "They were shocking - rude and sarcastic - but she never lowered herself to their level. She had a steely, pleasant demeanor."
Ms Bryce is known to be chic and immaculately coiffed - her ice cream-coloured outfits are coordinated from her earrings down - and she is said to take pride in the fact that she does not own a pair of jeans.
But the velvet glove of her renowned charm is said to encase an iron fist. Her detractors say that behind the smile is a ruthless, controlling woman. The fist was raised recently when, even before she was sworn in as Governor General, she unceremoniously dumped the most senior adviser at Government House, telling him he would not have a job when she started hers.
Malcolm Hazell, who has been official secretary at Yarralumla since 2003, was said to be distraught when told he was to be replaced and outgoing Governor General, Major General Jeffrey, was privately "livid." The move has given rise to fears among some that, after today's pomp and ceremony, she will instigate a night of the long knives, getting rid of loyal staff and replacing them with her own favourites.
The fears may have some basis, say critics who point to the exodus of personnel that marked her years as Queensland Governor. When she arrived at Brisbane's Government House in 2003, at least eight senior staff - including the executive officer, head chef, house manager and gardener - left after she clashed with them over issues from the colour of flowers in the garden to a lack of wardrobe space.
Famously, she was warned against using the official residence to host her son Rupert's wedding reception for 120 people in 2005. Executive officer Steven Blinkhorn, who gave this advice, took redundancy shortly afterwards. The party went ahead in a giant marquee.
"She's a control freak. She's all sweet and understanding in public, but in private it was a whole different ball game," one disgruntled former staff member told The Australian newspaper. Despite the stories, however, Ms Bryce remains hugely popular among politicans and particularly among Australian women who point to her many achievements over the decades.
While her appointment will make the Governor General's role more visible, few believe that she will make any real political impact, sticking instead to its ceremonial duties. But her supporters insist there could not be a better person representing the Queen in Australia.
Some have gone even further in their effusiveness. Dale Spender, a feminist scholar who was a neighbour of Ms Bryce in Brisbane 20 years ago, said: "She was born to it. I reckon if there was a contest between the Queen and Quentin Bryce, Quentin would win."