I am thrilled to have the opportunity to be in Dungowan. I am honoured to be asked to represent our Prime Minister and the Government of Australia to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Dungowan Public School.
I do have a bit of a sense of connection with this place. When I was elected to the Parliament, I was made the Duty Senator for New England. But the connection is much deeper than that.
It's an incredible thing really. I thought it was a remarkable thing. My great grandfather, William Roberts, taught here. I know this because my dad, John Ayres, who's much more on top of the detail than me, has done quite some work on these issues. And if you want to hear more about his connection and the period that Mr. Roberts was in charge of this place, you should have a talk to my dad. I know it's true because I've spoken to my dad. I also know it's true because I had a look at the punishment book.
And kids, I don't know whether you know this or whether you believe this, but back in the old days, like when I was at school, if you did something naughty, there was a very, very good chance that your teacher would grab hold of a stick, and they were allowed to hit you across the hand with the stick. It doesn't sound like it would hurt, but it really, really hurt, particularly if they were really, really, cross. The only thing that they had to do was to write it down in a book, and if you go and have a look in the punishment book, there is my great grandfather having issued the cane for a group of kids who were accused of the terrible offense of dunking other boys’ heads under water. Not the kind of thing that I think you should do.
My great grandmother, Sarah Roberts, was the needlework teacher here, probably unpaid. My dad's mum, Marjorie Roberts, went to school here and started her life here. On my mum and dad’s side, both of them have had family here all through the region, from the 1840s on as rural labourers, shearers and country workers. My mum, Roberta, as Ian said, was a schoolteacher, a special education teacher, in Glen Innes and Inverell, who loved public education. I went to school up the road at Glen Innes High School. So, I don't represent this area, I'm in the Australian Senate, and it has been a while since there have been Labor MPs elected from this part of Australia, like Bill McCarthy, who represented the region very close to here, who some of you might have known. Barnaby Joyce and Kevin Anderson do represent, they do have the honour of representing, this beautiful part of Australia, and I want to acknowledge them as well. But I do feel a deep sense of connection and a real love for this region, its towns and its people and the beautiful country here that we are so blessed to be in, and you are so fortunate to live in.
But I'm not the only one. You all live here. In fact, I had a meeting yesterday afternoon with the Teachers Federation, who are very keen to push the government hard on schools funding questions, and they should. I told them about coming here today, and one of them said, well, my grandfather taught at Dungowan too, so there will be hundreds of people across this region who feel that connection.
Public schools really matter. They really matter to Australia. In 1874, when this when this school was established, Australia did not exist as a country. It was still more than a quarter of a century before Federation. But this country public school, this Australian country public school, did exist.
If you want to know more about what life was like, the senior kids outlined of all of the small schools that dotted around this valley, there's a fella called Peter O'Brien who wrote a book called Bush School, which is about the Weabonga School, and it's a really good account of how tough life was, how hard scrabble it was in this valley, and how hard people worked to get a decent education for their kids. The establishment of a system of public schooling, so all of our kids receive an equal opportunity to learn, that was completely foundational in establishing Australia as an independent country.
In 1866, Sir Henry Parkes, who gave Australia's, I think Bob Carr called it the equivalent of the Gettysburg Address, in Tenterfield, when he set out the Tenterfield oration, which was a foundational document for the Australian Constitution and Australian Federation. In 1866, he was elected as the Colonial Secretary in the fledgling New South Wales Parliament, and he established the Public Schools Act. It is because of that act that every school over the course of the rest of that century, including this school, was established. Parkes was the father of modern Australia. He was a radical for his time. He believed in land reform, so pushing the big squatters out, so that small family farms could establish. He believed in agriculture. He believed in public education and railways, in opening Australia up, and establishing Australia as its own sovereign independent country.
His Public Schools Act was foundational to not just establishing this school, but to establishing modern Australia. This school, while you might feel very small here with the school, starting at 18 and now about 30 kids, this school and this place and this region sit at the heart of the foundation of modern Australia in our history. That's quite a thing. Some of you will know people who were students here, or who will have grandparents and great grandparents, and you'll have that connection with that foundation, and that is an incredible thing. That is a substantial thing. It's just one of the reasons why our schools, our great public schools, really matter. And this school has mattered, and it does matter, and it will matter for the future of this beautiful Australian community.
You kids and your mums and dads and broader family, this school will nurture you and lift you up. It has done it for generations, and it will keep doing it. It is a sign, our investment in these schools and the work that teachers do, and gardeners do, and PNCs do, that each of us, that each of you, your education, is valued by all of us. All of the hours and hours of effort that the teaching staff here put in really, really matters for the future of our families and for our kids.
That's really why I'm here. It is an extraordinary anniversary, 150 years. I'll give you a tip, for the senior school kids, it's easier to say 150 years than sesquicentenary. That's for sure. One of you did it. Who was it? Well done, Bailey. Very good. And that presentation by the students here today, I have to say, I felt very educated about the history of the small schools around here, it was a very educational presentation from the senior kids.
The presentation from the junior kids was much funnier. But I'm really here on behalf of the government to honour the teachers, the students, the community and this wonderful institution at its 150-year mark. It's a milestone that must be celebrated, and I'm deeply pleased that I could be here on this day, on behalf of the Government of Australia to mark this moment with all of you as you all reflect on what an achievement that is.
Thank you very much.
ENDS.
