Ms Baisden was surprised to open her letterbox and find an invitation to Friday's Prime Minister's reception for the Queen in the Great Hall at Parliament House in Canberra.

After a brief discussion with husband John Miles on the finer points of royal etiquette and whether it was correct procedure to curtsey, Ms Baisden decided to attend and booked flights.

The invitation prompted staff at Mr Miles' Cleveland cafe, Rafferty's, to don tiaras for the special occasion.

She was invited to the two-hour cocktail party for playing a crucial role in promoting Australian Aboriginal and indigenous languages.

Ms Baisden coordinates the Eastern States Aboriginal Languages Group, which aims to keep alive Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island languages.

The group made headlines when Ms Baisden met with the then Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin in 2009 to discuss getting indigenous languages included in the school curriculum.

That meeting resulted in the promise six weeks later from the Australian Curriculum Assessment Reporting Authority to launch a national indigenous languages curriculum in 2014.

At Friday night's soiree at Parliament House, Mr Miles and Ms Baisden listened to the Queen's speech, the only time she spoke in public on her Australian tour. They also met the Duke of Edinburgh Prince Philip.

"He joked with me about not understanding what Geoffrey Gurrumul was singing and asked if I could tell him," Ms Baisden said. "He then chatted to John about Rafferty's Cafe.

"He was quite charming and amazingly energetic for his age.

"We had a fantastic night," Ms Baisden said.Ms Baisden said speaking the Queen's English was important but if Australia wanted to promote its own identity, it would need to start teaching indigenous languages in schools.

"By 2014, all schools in Australia will have the capacity to teach an aboriginal language," Ms Baisden said.