Professor Nigel Forteath AM met the Queen when she visited Launceston in 1988

During one of Her Majesty's many trips to Tasmania, Professor Nigel Forteath AM met the Queen when she visited Launceston in 1988. Professor Forteath guided the Queen on her tour of the Tasmanian State Institute of Technology Aquaculture centre.

"It was a very special day. She was going to come around to the Aquaculture school on our campus. My job was to greet her at the gate to show her around," he said.

"I remember that I had a student whose job it was to pick up a crayfish to show to her. This enormous crayfish was lifted out and I think she was totally intrigued by it."

Professor Forteath said Her Majesty was very interested by the animals at the centre.

READ MORE: Tasmanian Premier reflects on Queen Elizabeth's devotion to duty

"We went to where we had all kinds of fish and aquatic life, and at nearly every tank she had something to ask and enquired the whole time about things," he said.

"She was interested in everything we were doing, which made it so easy."

He remembered a funny moment during her tour.

"We went into the area where we kept trout and I remember I told one of the students that when the Queen comes in to feed the trout, she could see them all splashing around on the surface," he said.

READ MORE: After setbacks, the $50 million Gorge Hotel is seeking a development application

"Unfortunately the student waited until the Queen was horribly close to the tank and threw in some pellets and the trout went berserk.

"The Queen nearly jumped out of her skin I think, she moved backwards, so I felt a bit embarrassed. She needn't worry, she took it in her stride. She was just so good at relaxing you and that's what I remember most."

Professor Forteath said the day was also an important one for his daughter.

"My daughter and a friend of hers were waiting inside the gate - they were only little girls," he said.

"They had a little bunch of flowers and I said to the Queen "Would you mind if my daughter and her friend gave you some flowers?", to which she said 'yes'. They enjoyed that."

"Although I taught my daughter how to curtsy she forgot all about that."

Mr Forteath met the Queen again a few years later when she came back to Launceston.

"We were all lined up at Albert Hall, she and the Duke came in and we were in the crowd. She came over and I said ' You probably don't remember me' and I told her when we last met," he said.

"She said she remembered and I told her I was at that time working with seahorses.

"She turned around and said 'I've got to go and find my husband about this'. He was too busy talking somewhere else."

Nigel's wife, Mandy, said the Queen and her husband came back towards them.

"She asked 'Is a seahorse a fish?' Nigel confirmed with her that they were and she said 'I thought so' and off she went."

The couple said the news of Queen Elizabeth's passing was very emotional.

"I was a weeping mess when I heard the news actually," Mrs Forteath said.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: