150 Years of Surat State School

Maranoa Regional Council Mayor, Councillor Wendy Taylor and Deputy Mayor Councillor Cameron O’Neil; Surat State School Principal, Mr Justin Washington; staff and students, good afternoon.

I begin by acknowledging the Original Custodians of the lands around Surat, the Mandandanji and Gunggari people, and pay my respects to Elders past, present and emerging, and all First Nations people with us this afternoon.

I also thank the school captains for their Acknowledgement of Country, and Mr Washington for his warm welcome.

Graeme and I are delighted to join you today to celebrate the 150^th anniversary of the establishment of the Surat State School.

The school has seen many changes in the past 150 years:

• when it opened on the 23^rd of July 1874, it was one of just 203 schools in the whole of Queensland; today, there are more than 1,200
• in 1874, there were only 590 state school teachers in the entire State; today there are almost 66,000
• and back then, the school had just 15 pupils – five boys and ten girls; today you have a wonderful community of more than 90 students, ranging from Prep through to the Year 10.

There are just over 30 “P10” – which means Prep-to-Year 10 – schools in Queensland today and each of them is very important because, without that network, many young Queenslanders such as yourselves would have no choice other than to learn remotely or enrol in a boarding school, far from family and friends.

Schools like yours, in small, remote towns, also provide students with vital opportunities for social interaction with other children and families living nearby, and that helps enormously in producing cohesive, resilient and mutually supportive communities.

Today is a fine example of what happens when there is a strong connection between a school and its community.

It’s clear that everyone in Surat has had a clear focus not only on creating today’s exciting celebration of the school’s 150^th anniversary, but on making this event part of the broader commemoration of the last Cobb & Co mail run from Surat to Yuleba a century ago.

As Governor, I congratulate and thank everyone who has contributed to these celebrations.

Unfortunately, my other official duties in Surat mean that Graeme and I will not be here this afternoon when the choir performs the special anniversary version of The Surat Promise with Josh Arnold, but we are very much looking forward to touring the school and to seeing the mural and the Walk Down Memory Lane display in the auditorium, as well as the contents of the time capsule when it is unsealed.

As well as that, I  congratulate the Student Council – indeed the entire student community – on choosing to publish a cookbook to mark the 150^th anniversary of this school.

This was a project to which students at every level could contribute because cookbooks are a fundamental part of everyday family life for Australians.

But it was not always so – the very first Australian cookery book was published in 1860s, barely a decade after the first European settlers arrived in the Maranoa.

Back then, damper and mutton were the basis of the daily diet, so, unfortunately, that first cookery book would have been of very little interest to the cooks of Surat – it was called Ice and its uses!

But despite that unpromising beginning, country cooks quickly earned a reputation for whipping up prize-winning delicacies to exhibit at local shows and to serve at morning and afternoon teas, and I’m sure many family favourites, handed down for generations, have earned a place in the Student Council’s collection.

It is now with great pleasure that I officially launch this commemorative cookbook and congratulate the Student Council once again on the successful completion of this marvellous project.

The recipes in that book are part of the collective memory of this community, just like the items displayed in the Walk Down Memory Lane and the contents of the time capsule. Together, they’re part of a shared story that has connected the people of the Maranoa for generations and will continue to do so.

Happy 150^th anniversary!