Cloncurry Community Lunch

Good afternoon. Kaye and I are delighted to be back in Cloncurry where a warm welcome always awaits.

I at once acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands around Cloncurry, and extend respectful greetings to Elders and emerging leaders.

Kaye and I were here last May – at this very Museum – for the Royal Flying Doctor Service 90^th birthday celebrations.

It was hard to imagine then that the ongoing drought preoccupying so many of our conversations would break in such a devastating way.

While in Dajarra earlier today, I suggested that the word resilient has come to define the people of Queensland.

It is certainly an appropriate term for Cloncurry and the communities of North West Queensland.

Cloncurry holds a special spot in the hearts of Queenslanders.

We know it as the destination of the first QANTAS flight, and as the home of the Stockman’s Challenge, the Curry Merry Muster and, of course, the spiritual home of our nation-defining Royal Flying Doctor Service.

Indeed, Cloncurry is something of an Australian icon.

But this year we have come to recognise it as something more. For this strong community also reminds us of another value vital to collective identity – mutual support.

The recovery from the floods has been slow and painful. But your support of one another throughout this crisis was instant and unwavering.

On behalf of the people of Queensland, I extend our gratitude to the network of services who continue to aid the North West recovery.

This includes community groups, volunteer organisations, council representatives, school groups, members of the emergency services and health sectors and many caring individuals and businesses – so many of you so wonderfully represented here today.

This journey is far from over.

Over the coming months and years there will be members of your community who continue to suffer, who may need a helping hand now and again.

I know you will keep on looking out for one another, and I urge anyone who needs help to ask.

We often describe our Outback communities as being isolated. But here in Cloncurry you are far from alone. Thank you once again for your hospitality – Kaye and I are very much looking forward to sharing lunch with you all, and then, during Seniors Week, to visiting the aged care wing of the Cloncurry Hospital with Mayor Campbell. Thank you.