Official Opening of St John's Anglican College Redeveloped Sports Centre

Cr Owen, representing the Lord Mayor; Federal Member for Oxley; Your Grace; College Chair; Principal, Mrs McIvor; all wonderful members of the St John’s Anglican College family, including the students, teachers and administrators. I am delighted to be with you this morning to officiate at the opening of this splendid, re-developed facility.

I thank the College Captains for their welcome and acknowledgement of country. I too acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands around Brisbane, and extend respectful greetings to Elders and emerging leaders. 

I last visited the College in February 2018, to officially open Stage 2 of your Performing Arts School of Excellence.

I was struck at the time by the excellent standard of facilities here.

Today, I am even more impressed to see the familiar “Dome” transformed into this modern sports centre as part of the school’s visionary building plan.

These greatly enhanced indoor teaching spaces, spectator seating, and community facilities are a tribute to the creativity of the designing architects, but are also testament to the commitment of the entire school community.

Securing the funding for a project of this size is not easy and I at once acknowledge the generosity of St John’s donors and thank the Queensland Government and Perpetual’s IMPACT Philanthropy program for their significant contributions.

The College council, the Principal and all concerned can be very proud to see this project brought to fruition, particularly under the very challenging circumstances of the coronavirus pandemic.

The consequent restrictions mean that, sadly, only a limited number of guests can share this special occasion.

However, I was particularly pleased to be able to accept the invitation as this is one of the few events I have been able to attend in personsince restrictions have started to lift – indeed it is my first visit to a Brisbane school since March! How very glad I am to be back here, at St John’s, on what is a very important day for the College and the wider Forest Lake community!

It is therefore with genuine pleasure that I will shortly join the Archbishop, and College Principal and Chair, to unveil a plaque, thereby declaring officially open the St John’s Anglican College Redeveloped Sports Centre.