“What a great joy it is to come to Australia for the first time as Sovereign, and to renew a love of this country and its people which I have cherished for so long,” King Charles told the New South Wales parliament.

The royal family posted more images of his visit in a post on X.

Charles and Camilla have joined churchgoers at St Thomas’ Anglican Church, which the rector’s wife described as a “great honour”.

The King and Queen met young members of the congregation at the door of the church, where Charles was presented with a rugby ball, cricket ball and stuffed koala, for his grandchildren Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.

The rector’s wife said: “It’s a great honour for us as it’s the first opportunity for the public to see the King and Queen.”

Republican protestors were heard shouting “not my King” as the couple arrived at the church. Around a dozen people, who supported the First Nations resistance to colonisation movement, held up a banner with the word “decolonise”.

Charles also saw his friend and former polo teacher Sinclair Hill, considered Australia’s greatest ever player, who was joined by his wife Wendy Hill.

Ms Hill said afterwards: “He is a lovely man and the fact that he has not been well and still came… The effort he puts in to talk to all these people. I thought he looked terrific.”

King Charles presented an hourglass to the upper house of an Australian local parliament which was celebrating its 200th anniversary.

The Legislative Council of New South Wales (NSW) was presented with the timepiece - which Charles says could be used as a “speech timer” - on the first day of the King and Queen’s Australian tour.

Having visited the NSW parliament in 1974 to celebrate its 150th anniversary, the King returned with a gift handmade by the Goldsmiths’ Centre in London, with a cedar base using wood from the King’s Highgrove home.

“Democratic systems must evolve, of course, to remain fit for purpose, but they are, nevertheless, essentially sound systems, as I said in this building 50 years ago,” he told the house.

“When underpinned by wisdom and good faith, democracy has, I believe, an extraordinary capacity for innovation, compromise and adaptability, as well as stability.

“With the sands of time encouraging brevity, it just remains for me to say what a great joy it is to come to Australia for the first time as Sovereign, and to renew a love of this country and its people which I have cherished for so long.”

The royals’ first public engagement was at a service at St. Thomas’ Anglican Church in North Sydney. As Charles and Camilla made their way to the front of church, Sunday school children waving Australian flags cheered and shook hands with the couple.

Inside, dozens of phones pointed in their direction, while excited whispers echoed through the room.

After the service, the king and queen were greeted outside by hundreds of cheering people hoping to catch a glimpse or snap a photo.

The royal tour got off to a triumphant start for Queen Camilla who granted a 12-year-old boy’s wish to meet the royals on arrival in Australia.

Ky, who has severe aplastic anaemia, presented the queen consort with a bouquet after she and King Charles stepped off their plane.

Ky was joined by his sister Charlotte for the meeting, who saved his life with a bone marrow donation.

“I just like their personality as well and what they do with charities is really nice – probably Charles would be my favourite,” he said.

His wish to meet the royals was granted by the Make-A-Wish Foundation, which exists in both the UK and Australia.

King Charles and Queen Camilla have thanked Australia for their “special welcome” as they kick off their six-day tour of the country.

A post on the official royal family Twitter/X account read: “Thank you for the special welcome, Australia!

“The King and Queen have touched down in Sydney to begin their visit to Australia.

“The visit marks His Majesty’s first visit to a Realm as Sovereign.”

This was accompanied by a picture of the Sydney Opera House, which was lit up with images from previous royal tours for the occasion.

They later said it was a “pleasure” to meet prime minister Anthony Albanese.

The Australian Republic Movement has likened the king and queen’s presence to that of a visiting musician or artist, while condemning the royal tour as “something of a show that comes to town”.

Esther Anatolitis, the movement’s co-chair, said the six-day visit showed the country’s need for an Australian head of state rather than a British monarch.

“Unfortunately, it is a reminder that Australia’s head of state isn’t full-time, isn’t Australian. It’s a part-time person based overseas who’s the head of state of numerous places,” Anatolitis told the AP.