Reception for Girl Guides Queensland for the Presentation of the 2014 Queen’s Guide and Adult Awards

Speech by Mrs Kaye de Jersey: The Governor and I are delighted to welcome you all to Government House this evening. I acknowledge members of the Queensland Girl Guides community, particularly the State Commissioner and other senior representatives, ladies and gentlemen, girls and boys. We gather tonight in the Investiture Room. This special, formal room bears this name because it is here that Paul, as Governor and representative of Her Majesty The Queen, invests the recipients of some of Australia’s highest honours. I am therefore very pleased to be able to host tonight’s ceremony here, and to present the Queen’s Guide and Adult Awards earned in Queensland in twenty-fourteen.

At the outset, I must say how delighted I was to be approached to accept the role of Patron of Girl Guides Queensland. I was very pleased to also renew my Girl Guide promise earlier this evening in a very personal ceremony conducted by the State Commissioner and Assistant State Commissioners.

Reciting that promise again, transported me back immediately to the very first time I took the promise as a Girl Guide many years ago. What struck me was that the humble core values of guiding – expressed in that statement – remain so relevant and appropriate. This is particularly so in an area when we are bombarded daily with exaggerated claims and pressure to consume.

I have accepted personal patronage of only a very small number of organisations. However, I am particularly pleased to wear my new Girl Guides’ Patron’s Badge, because I have long recognised the value of guiding in the development of confident, competent young women who can go on to become both leaders in their communities, and role models and mentors within the guiding movement.

I am very aware that some recipients and their guests have travelled a considerable distance, some even taking leave from their employment, to be at this evening’s ceremony.

This is testament to the value they place on their involvement with guiding, and I commend and thank them for making this commitment.

Finally, I congratulate all of the recipients on their awards, and wish them many more years of satisfying service.