Ithaca Creek State School Year 6 Farewell

Thank you, Mr Nash, for your kind words of introduction. I acknowledge the presence tonight of the local Member and Councillor, and so many members of the Ithaca Creek State School community.

I respectfully acknowledge the traditional Indigenous custodians of these lands.

Now without more ado, I want particularly to congratulate the students of the first year six class to transition from this fine school to high school under the new arrangements. What a wonderful achievement. And I respectfully commend your parents, and your teachers, for the inspiration they will have given you.

My wife Kaye joins me in this, and we warmly wish you well as you make that transition. Having “striven to improve”, you have been very well equipped by this, your school, to enter and flourish in the next phase of your education.

The advice I was most often given when I was young, was simply that I should always do my very best. That is the best advice which can be given. If you do your best, you will make the most of your talents, and feel a great deal of personal satisfaction – increased immeasurably if you use those talents to help others.

As you have heard, I attended this fine school a very long time ago, in the early 1960s. I am especially proud now, as your Governor, to be a former student of Ithaca Creek State School – and indeed, to be your neighbour! My wife and I now live but 5 minutes away by car, and for a 66-year old, about half an hour away by foot.

Now I have a little confession to make.

Very early in my term as your Governor, and before I accepted an appropriate level of discipline, I ‘escaped’ one Sunday from Government House and walked alone for that half an hour down to Lugg Street.

I was nostalgically very moved to see again the imposing buildings of my old school, and was inclined to walk inside.  But an appropriately stern looking security van rightly deterred me.

So thank you for welcoming me into the school tonight, and it’s entirely incidental that I am ‘protected’ by my Aide-de-Camp Flight Lieutenant Daelman!

We are, of course, fortunate to live in a society where the Governor can walk outside freely and unattended, as I did that Sunday! We manage freedoms well in this great State, as our G20 performance demonstrated so well.

Now I am here tonight as your Governor, and a Governor very proud to acknowledge his being a former student of our School. I very fondly recall my couple of years here. Educationally and socially, they were formative years for me.

In Kaye’s and my recent move to Government House, I uncovered my school reports from those years, which I am very pleased to present now to your Principal. I suspect they are much more complimentary than I deserved.

But this much is clear: that I did well was the result of hard work.

I urge you, boys and girls, to be true to your school motto, strive to improve, and you will thereby succeed. Never underestimate your capacities and potential. And always respect and realise those wonderful people who help and support you along this exciting journey! I know you would want me especially to thank your teachers and your parents, and I do so.

Kaye and I are absolutely delighted to be with you this evening, and we are inspired to hear of your performance and potential. We wish you all, and this great school, every success!