Official Visit to the Rockhampton Grammar School

Chair, Mr Brad Beasley; Headmaster, Dr Moulds; teachers; students and supporters of the Rockhampton Grammar School. It is my great pleasure to be visiting here, one of the oldest and most distinguished schools in Queensland.

I too acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands around Rockhampton and extend respectful greetings to Elders and emerging leaders.

It is my first official visit here, but I am honoured to be following in the footsteps of several vice-regal visitors.[1]

Like others before me, I am greatly impressed with the facilities, the heritage-listed buildings and the extraordinary range of opportunities that are available to you as students of the Rockhampton Grammar School.

You are part of a very long and distinguished tradition of scholarship, dating back to a time when students arrived in carriages and wrote using ink wells.

The way you travel and the way you study may have changed beyond recognition, but the ideals of the school remain eternally valid.

Your motto, Grow in Character and Scholarship, is as pertinent now as it was back in 1881.

I noted with great interest last week when the top Queensland students of 2019 were awarded that the very top student in the State, James Vandeleur, is a graduate of the Rockhampton Grammar School. He excelled both academically and musically, and his success is a testament not only to Mr Vandeleur himself but to the school and the opportunities that are provided here.

Mr Vandeleur joins other distinguished alumni of the Rockhampton Grammar School, amongst whose ranks may be found politicians, actors, Olympians, and sportspeople of renown.

Like them, each of you here today has the ability within you to do or create something of great significance.

I encourage you to use your time here to discover what that ‘something’ may be.

For those who are near the beginning of your journey through the school: learn from those ahead of you, recognise the opportunities that come your way, and take fullest advantage of them.

For those who are nearing the end of your school journey: enjoy every moment of your remaining time, acknowledge your fortune in being educated here, and when you leave put to great use the lessons that you have learned here.

I look forward to shortly presenting the incoming school leaders with their badges. They continue to uphold the highest traditions of the school. Congratulations to those office bearers, and to the school body as a whole.

You have a school to be proud of, and your school takes pride in you. Thank you.

[1] Most recently the former Governor-General, Sir Peter Cosgrove in 2015, and my predecessor, Governor Wensley, in 2009.