The Lady Bowen Trust 10th Anniversary Celebration

Thank you Mr Seccombe. Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. It is an honour, with Kaye, to be here tonight to celebrate the work of the Lady Bowen Trust and its partners, and to present the Lady Bowen Trust grants.

Homelessness is a complex problem with huge ramifications for those who experience it. 

A home is not just shelter from the rain and the cold.

It is a place to keep belongings, knowing that they will still be there when you come back for them.

It is a place to have a shower and take care of all the common, essential requirements of personal hygiene.

It is a place to relax without fear and without disturbance.

And as we approach this significant family festive time, it is a place in which we share and we celebrate.

But those without a place to call home do not have access to things so many of us take for granted.

This means, therefore, that they are often locked out of employment; locked out, also of friendship, social interaction and personal dignity.  

This is why I am honoured to be the patron of the Lady Bowen Trust, an organisation which makes such an enormous difference to the lives of so many people experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness.

As we have heard, the Lady Bowen Trust and Roma House celebrate their tenth anniversary this year.

This is a time to reflect on the achievements and milestones of the past ten years, and to be heartened by the stories of hope.

We celebrate also the work of Mission Australia, and thank them for their steadfast role in managing Roma House over the past decade.

Likewise, gratitude is expressed to the Public Trustee for their work with the Trust, and warm congratulations are offered on reaching their centenary.

This evening is, above all, a time to celebrate the work of the grant recipients, and to wish them well in their endeavours.

Their proposed projects will truly make a difference.

It is wonderful, also, to see the influence of the Lady Bowen Trust spreading beyond the geographical boundaries of Brisbane and into regional Queensland.

We see tonight the power of the community working together.

Because it is not one trust, one organisation, one project, one idea that changes lives – it is the magnifying effect of many working together that has a profound and long-lasting impact in the lives of those most vulnerable, very much consistent with legacy of the Trust’s namesake, Diamantina, Lady Bowen, the wife of our State’s first Governor.

And so it is my absolute pleasure to be shortly presenting the Lady Bowen Trust grants to the worthy recipient organisations. Thank you.