Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games Queen’s Baton

Each host nation of the Commonwealth Games has the responsibility to create a Queen’s Baton that reflects design, cultural and human values of its time. It must genuinely engage and inspire the Commonwealth to come together to celebrate the games. The Queen’s Baton must be robust enough to survive a 388 Day Relay handled by tens of thousands of people while being technologically advanced, sustainable and inclusive. Display stands and protective cases were required to showcase the Baton as were adaptors to securely hold the Baton on items such as wheelchairs and bicycles and during extreme activities such as skydiving.

Deep immersion helped the designers absorb the culture, gaining insights which helped form the design narrative Boundless Energy. This narrative is conceptualised in the open loop form, illuminated on the inside face of the Baton. Three distinct materials recognising the past, acknowledge the present, and look to the future. **PAST** - Macadamia Wood is native to the Gold Coast region and serves as an important symbol and example of traditional sustainable cultural practice. **PRESENT** – Stainless-Steel Stringer is reminiscent of surf craft heritage with country codes etched in order of relay. **FUTURE** - Reclaimed Plastic raises awareness for sustainable behaviour.

The Queen’s Baton has reached more than 1.5 Billion people, promoting the Gold Coast to the Commonwealth in anticipation of the Games. It has provided a platform for extraordinary members of communities around Australia to be recognised as part of the Queen’s Baton Relay. Inclusion of reclaimed plastic with a visibly recycled aesthetic helped start the conversation across many nations that have sustainability issues. The message is not recycling but reconsidering of consumption. Key figures such as The Prince of Wales, Prince Charles have now started talking about these issues at keynote addresses around the world.

The Queen’s Message is written on Spinifex paper using Spinifex nano materials and resin combining traditional techniques and cutting edge sustainable material technologies, producing a thin, tough bespoke paper. The illuminated loop is controlled by a smart phone app used to adjust the different settings for the energy efficiency, colour illumination and battery status. GPS technology on board allows the Baton to be tracked as it travels around the Commonwealth. Capacitive touch sensors beneath the macadamia wood sense when two people touch the baton, igniting a special lighting effect which symbolises passing energy on from one Batonbearer to the next.