The Queen?s Baton passes through Bermuda next week on its epic journey around every Commonwealth Nation ahead of the 2006 Games in Melbourne.

The ultra-modern baton, the Commonwealth version of the Olympic torch, has been doing pre-Games tours since 1958 but is reaching Bermuda?s shores for the first time next Wednesday night ? part of its 180,000 km, 71-nation journey lasting one year and a day.

It arrives here from the British Virgin Islands next week and will be presented at Government House on Thursday morning before being paraded around St. George?s by past and future Commonwealth Games gymnasts.

On Friday it will make a similar tour of Hamilton, with former Games competitors from Bermuda again hoisting the baton, which contains a global positioning system that allows its exact location to be pinpointed on the Internet wherever it is in the world.

The festivities will reach a climax on Friday night when every athlete who has ever represented Bermuda in the Commonwealth Games over the past 75 years will be invited to a special reception.

?This is the first time anything like this has passed through the Island,? said Bermuda Olympic Association president John Hoskins, who will accompany the baton on the next leg of its journey, to the Falklands.

?We have never had a baton come here before nor the Olympic torch. It is a unique thing they are doing, going across every single Commonwealth country and we look forward to welcoming the baton team to our Island.?

The baton will arrive accompanied by its three-man entourage; a photographer ? who has been sending images to the main Commonwealth website from around the globe ? a security officer ? Melbourne Police officer ? and an administrator.

Bermuda are planning to send a team of around 30 athletes to next year?s Games Down Under with squash players, track and field athletes, cyclists and swimmers already qualified. A number of shooting competitors and gymnasts are expected to qualify soon.

See Page 24 for Bermuda?s Commonwealth Games roll of honour.