Presentation of uniforms to members of the Down Syndrome Swimming Australia team

Chair of Down Syndrome Swimming Australia, Ms Amanda Kerby; Members of the Board; members of the team; special guests; ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls,

It is wonderful to join you today for this special celebration.

I offer my personal congratulations and best wishes to the twenty swimmers who have been selected to represent Australia at the ninth Down Syndrome World Swimming Championships next month.

I visit many wonderful places and meet many remarkable people each and every week and I always return to Government House feeling inspired and uplifted. And sometimes I return feeling downright joyful, or maybe ‘upright joyful’ is a far better description. There is nothing down about joy. 

Joy is a bubbling brook of contentment and gratitude – the deliberate embracement, hour by hour, day after day, of life’s simplest pleasures. Joy rises up within us when we are doing what we love.

It’s the preferred fuel for the human imagination, the human body, the human spirit, and all manner of human endeavour.

Joy is diving head first into a swimming pool without making a big splash. It’s your arms gliding through the water with long, strong, even strokes. It’s your feet kicking with purpose and power, propelling you further and faster. Joy is hearing your name called out above the mighty cheers from the grandstand.

Joy isn’t in the winning necessarily, although it certainly won’t stop you. But it will keep a smile on your face regardless. It will wake you early the next morning to resume training, and grant you permission to chase a new personal best.

When I walked in here today I was met by joy. And that, I’ll have you know, is the most amazing, uplifting feeling there is.

So as the world prepares to greet you poolside, I take great pride and great pleasure in sending you on your way with the highest hopes and warmest wishes from the people of Queensland.

Congratulations Team Australia, and best of luck in Nova Scotia, Canada.