Lockart River State School Visit

Lockhart River Aboriginal Shire Mayor, Councillor Wayne Butcher and CEO, Mr Dave Clark; Traditional Owners of Kaanthanumpu Mr Gregory Pascoe and Father Brian; Lockhart River School, Principal, Ms Kathy Ona; Teachers and staff; parents, carers; boys and girls.

I begin by acknowledging the Traditional Owners of the lands on which we gather and pay my respects to Elders past, present and emerging and the many proud First Nations people here today.

I’m very excited to have this chance to be here and meet with you all, where you live and, as importantly, where you learn.

And that brings me to part of the reason for my visit today, and that is to officially open this new learning building, which I understand was completed late last year and has already been given a good workout!

I must say, one of the best parts about being Governor is visiting Queenslanders where they live – and schools pretty much top the list when it comes to favourite places.

Every visit I make to a Queensland school is an opportunity for me to learn more about the history of our State, plus I have the privilege of meeting the amazing teachers, staff and students like yourselves, and I am always so impressed!

I particularly enjoy meeting the young people in a town, or city, because you demonstrate so much of the enthusiasm and energy that drives the community there.

Visiting a school like this one tells me so much about what a wonderful community you live in, and how important it is to them that you stay in school and keep learning!

With a marvellous new building like this, who wouldn’t?!

So, as the 27^th Governor of Queensland, it gives me great delight to officially announce this building open and unveil a plaque commemorating this special moment in the history of your school.