Official Visit to Mansfield State High School

Member for Mansfield, Ms Corinne McMillan; former Member of the Executive Council of Queensland, the Honourable Phil Reeves; Principal, Mrs Karen Tanks; distinguished guests; staff, students and supporters of Mansfield State High School. 

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

Community visits such as this one form a significant part of the role of a Governor. 

I have had the privilege of visiting a great many number of schools throughout my term as Governor over the past six and a half years. 

This is the first time, however, that I have visited a school that was in fact named after a Governor, and one who, like myself, came to the Governorship directly from being the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Queensland!

Sir Alan Mansfield, Governor of Queensland from 1966 to 1972, was also the chief Australian prosecutor at the Tokyo war crimes tribunal after World War II, and, as part of the United Nations War Crimes Commission, he sought justice for victims of war.

Your School Houses are notable – perhaps unique in my experience – for being named after people whose lives are honoured for their contributions to peace.

What wonderful role models you have in front of you every day! There can be no worthier goal to strive towards.

As the world takes its first tentative steps towards a post-COVID future, countries around the world are working together in a manner unprecedented, sharing information, knowledge and expertise.

Each of you will one day take your full place in the life of our State.  

Use your time here at school to gain knowledge, strive for wisdom, and be inspired by peace. It takes strength to be peaceful, and its impact is powerful.

Whether you came to Mansfield State High School to take part in the French immersion program, or because you went to the primary school next door, or because you joined the outstanding music program here, or because you gained a place in the Technology Integrated Curriculum program: whatever your motivation, you have chosen a school where you are valued, and you have become part of a community which is heavily invested in you.

And every day you have the opportunity, in turn, to invest in others. 

Help others along their journey as you have been helped along yours.

 Take your school motto – Sir Mansfield’s family’s own motto – to heart: Be Steadfast.

Be steadfast in your search of excellence. Steadfast in your pursuit of purpose. And steadfast in following the principles of peace.

Thank you, and I wish you all every success throughout 2021.