Order of Australia Association (Queensland Branch) 2015 Secondary School Citizenship Awards

Thank you, Mr Howden, for your kind introduction. I too acknowledge our parliamentarians, distinguished guests, award recipients, secondary school students. I thank the Queensland Branch of the Order of Australia Association for inviting me to participate in this ceremony once again.

It has been a pleasure presenting the Association’s 2015 Secondary School Citizenship Awards, and witnessing certificates being presented, to this group of impressive young people. I am especially delighted to see a substantial representation in the group from schools in regional Queensland.    

In just a few days, there will be a series of investitures at Government House at which more than 110 residents of Queensland will be presented with awards in the Australian honours and awards system.

I have been Governor for just over a year and have already presented over 265 such awards.

As a result, I have a few observations that might be of interest to the young people here today, and to those all over Queensland who want to make a positive difference in their communities.  

The first is that there is an astonishing variety of ways in which Queenslanders make notable contributions to their State and country.

In one ceremony in a few days time, Order of Australia awards will be presented for contributions to dentistry, rugby league, indigenous land rights, reconstructive surgery, dinosaur fossils, and to Queenslanders living with HIV/AIDS. And that is a very small sample.

Furthermore, that there is no “typical” Order of Australia awardee. 

There are extroverts and those who are more reserved; those who act on a grand stage, and others who spend their lives working tirelessly in one community or organisation; and there are those who live in Queensland’s bigger cities, and others who live in far-flung, small communities.  

The lessons for us here today are that the ways in which young people can contribute to their communities are limited only by their imaginations; and that you can make a difference by simply being yourself and playing to your personal strengths.

Not all people who follow this advice will find themselves wearing an Order of Australia. But everyone can make a positive difference to his or her community. The important thing is to make a start.

That is precisely what the young people here today have done. At a comparatively young age, they have already demonstrated their desire to contribute to the well-being fellow Queenslanders.

This is a wonderful thing for a Governor– for anyone – to be able to witness and acknowledge.

As Governor and Patron, I thank the Association for its invaluable encouragement, through these citizenship awards, of young people’s enthusiasm and energy in making their communities better places.

That amounts to a marvellous investment in our future.

I thank the teachers, principals and families who have encouraged and supported today’s awardees, and provided them with excellent models to emulate.   

I thank and congratulate the students who have been honoured with awards. 

Beyond these or any other awards, there will always be a personal reward for work you do in the community: a deep sense of achievement and satisfaction.  I can tell you: that has been my own lesson to this point in my privileged – though hard-working, life.

On that positive note, I leave you with a quote from the Chinese sage Confucius, who put the same thought into other words: He who wishes to secure the good of others has already secured his own.

Thank you.