The coincidence of events was inescapable: in the week the British monarchy lost its brightest star, the Australian government began preparations for a convention on whether Australia should become a republic and the queen should be dumped as head of state.
As the battle lines were drawn between monarchists and republicans in the campaign to win the 76 elected places on the 152-member convention, Australians mourned Diana, Princess of Wales.
Local women's magazines worked at fever pitch on their tribute editions, with 900,000 copies of Woman's Day recalled and pulped because they featured pictures of Diana and Dodi al-Fayed cuddling. And - perhaps most remarkable of all in this sports-mad country - the Australian Football League took the dramatic step of postponing Saturday's night final between Adelaide and West Coast to avoid clashing with the live television coverage of Diana's funeral.
'Whether you're monarchists or republicans or whatever your views of the royal family are, there's an overwhelming number of people around this country that would wish to be somewhere other than at a football match at 8, 9, 10 o'clock on Saturday night,' said Wayne Jackson, the AFL's chief executive.
The princess had made several friends down under, both officially and on behalf of local charities such as the foundation set up in the memory of murdered Hong Kong-born heart surgeon Dr Victor Chang.
But, for many of those who felt her death personally, it did not alter a strong belief in the importance of Australia's having a head of state drawn from the ranks of its own citizens.
