GOVERNMENT HOUSE, NOW DEDICATED TO UNIVERSITY PURPOSESGOVERNMENT HOUSE, NOW DEDICATED TO UNIVERSITY PURPOSES
GOVERNMENT HOUSE, NOW DEDICATED TO UNIVERSITY PURPOSES
In older lands Time seems to move with so deliberate a step that his march is scarcely noticed, and the passing of fifty years is but a small matter, though within the past half-century discovery after discovery, advance after advance, has been made. Still these things have come gradually, and, like all the great triumphs of peace, have been achieved calmly, orderly, and almost imperceptibly. It has been different in these new countries, whose practical history comprehends scarcely more than the span of one man's life. Queensland has grown out of nothing (from the point of view of civilisation) to a fair stature of importance. Fifty years is the sum of its existence as a self-governing State, but within that brief period the country has been reclaimed from the wilderness, and made the home of a happy, progressive, and enlightened people. Bearing in mind what Queensland was fifty years ago, and what it is to-day, it will be admitted that its jubilee was eminently worth celebrating, not in a mere spirit of festivity, but in the spirit of a people conscious of what has been done, and full of enthusiasm for continued development. No better evidence of that could have been afforded than by the particular method of celebration decided upon—the dedication of the most historic building in Queensland to the purposes of a University. It would have been easy to have devised a more showy plan, to have arranged for festivities that would have given greater immediate pleasure, but it would not have been possible to have marked the jubilee day with anything so admirably calculated to promote the best interests of the people, or so likely to abide in the public memory. That was the view of Mr. Kidston and his Government, to whom belong the honour of having given effect to the long-cherished aspirations of that numerous body who desire to see Queenslanders an educated as well as a prosperous people. For many years there had been a movement afoot for the establishment of a University. As far back as 1891, a Royal Commission, under the presidency of the late Sir Charles Lilley, had inquired into the matter and reported strongly in favour of the project. Premiers who were themselves graduates of universities and cultured, far-seeing men had recognised the need for a University, but the matter obstinately remained in the air. For some sixteen years, largely supported by the Sydney University, a Council had carried on University Extension Lectures, educating not only the students, but the public. Finally, the present Premier, realising that the time was ripe for a definite forward move, placed educational reform in the forefront of his policy, and succeeded in getting legislation passed for the establishment of the institution and in securing a liberal provision for maintaining it. This much achieved, everything was sufficiently far advanced for an impressive dedicatory ceremony on the day chosen for celebrating the jubilee of Queensland—Friday,10th December, 1909. It was not possible, of course, for the University to be actually in operation by that date, but it was possible to take the first step by solemnly setting apart for its uses the building in which it is proposed to conduct it. That was precisely what was done on this occasion, and with a simple dignity and an earnestness of purpose that could not well have been surpassed. Everything combined to make the day and the event memorable, to lift it out of the commonplace of public occasions, in a word to make it historic—the most historic event since the promulgation of Queensland's free Constitution. The building itself had been the honoured home of every Governor since 1861. As was happily phrased in one of the speeches, it had been the centre of social and political life. What more appropriate than that it should be invested with a new function—be given, as it were, a new lease of life in the great cause of citizen-making? What more interesting than that the chief figure in the ceremonial should be Sir William MacGregor, himself a great witness to the value of university training, a distinguished servant of the Empire, one of the select band of Empire builders who have united ripe scholarship with tireless energy and firm grasp of national business and the ways of the world? It was a singularly happy circumstance that this was his first important public act as Governor of Queensland. But a few days before he had taken over the reins of government from the hands of the Lieutenant-Governor, Sir Arthur Morgan. As befitted the occasion and the interest which they had taken in the matter of the University, Sir Arthur and Mr. Kidston also took a prominent part in the ceremony. The presence of Professor David, of the Sydney University, who was a prominent member of the Shackleton Expedition to the Antarctic regions, and of Professor Stirling, of the Adelaide University, lent additional distinction to the event, visibly representing, as it did, the cordiality with which those important institutions regarded the advent of Queensland into the sisterhood of Australian University-States.
Never before in its history had Government House been the scene of a gathering so unique. The Premier struck the keynote of the whole proceedings, when he said that they were met "to erect this white stone, as it were, to mark this point in our national progress." He was alluding to the marble tablet, which had been affixed to the wall near the main entrance, recording the dedication of the building to its new purposes. Also, he declared the democratic foundation of the institution in the significant sentence: "In very truth it may be said that the Queensland University is of the people, and I trust that the Senate, when they start to manage this institution, will remember that it is also to be for the people."
To the ceremony were bidden all who could lend to it distinction and interest. It was no mere official or exclusive gathering, but one which represented in full measure the democratic character of the Queensland people. Those high in place were there; those who in university life had won honour; those who had laboured to lay the foundations of the educational system of which this was the culmination; the people for whose children this was to be in a real and practical sense the great training school and character-building institution; the children from whose ranks were to be drawn the earliest students. The scene was one which will live inmemory long after the University has begun its work, and will be recalled when in their gladsome, perhaps boisterous, fashion the students hold their commemoration days, or when in more thoughtful times the men and women who have gone forth from it girded for the battle of life revisit its shady walks and studious halls. The building and its charming environments lent themselves to an impressive spectacle. In the bright summer day, the well-kept grounds and the rich foliage of the neighbouring gardens presented a picture of rare colour and beauty. Beyond lay the broad river glistening in the sunlight. Above arched the ineffable azure scarcely flecked by clouds. In the distance lay the far spreading city, with its pulsating life and varied activities. Under the shadow of the graceful building and in a sweeping semi-circle were massed the spectators, with eyes concentrated on the main portico, which had been converted into a stage for the interesting drama of the afternoon. A curved structure had been thrown out from the masonry, and decorated and canopied with maroon and white. Grouped around this were arranged the chairs provided for the seven hundred invited guests. Among these were many wearing their university costumes, which vied in colour and variety with the dresses of the ladies. Beyond this enclosure were drawn up, rank behind rank, 250 boys and 550 girls chosen from the fifth and sixth classes of the metropolitan schools, each wearing Queensland's colours, maroon and white, and 200 State school cadets in uniform. All had been assembled in Alice street, and marched in procession to the space allotted to them. They were there for the double purpose of supplying a choir and adding to the representative character of the assembly. Beyond their lines were gathered the members of the general public. The arrangements entailed a good deal of planning and forethought, but every part of the ordered and dignified ceremony was smoothly carried out. The military element, drawn from the 9th Australian Infantry Regiment, was lined up along the whole front of Government House, the scarlet coats and white helmets supplying a fringe of colour to that part of the picture.
The time fixed for the ceremony was half-past 3 o'clock. The reserved enclosure was then filled, the intermediate space was thronged with school children and cadets, and the outer circle was made up of those whom interest or curiosity had drawn to the spot. It was no small evidence of the genuineness of that interest that, though hundreds were too far away to hear the speeches, they remained during the whole proceedings. They took their cue from those who were nearer, and when they saw or heard them applauding they joined in and swelled the volume of enthusiasm. One of the first to take his place on the dais was Mr. W. H. Barnes, to whom it had fallen, as Secretary for Public Instruction, to pilot the University Bill through the Legislative Assembly. Not long afterwards there came Mr. A. H. Barlow, M.L.C., the veteran Minister, who had had much to do with the preparation of the measure, and who had charge of it during its progress through the Upper House. Among early arrivals were Miss MacGregor, His Excellency's daughter, and Mrs. Kidston. Punctually at half-past 3 His Excellency the Governor, Sir William MacGregor, arrived, dressed in his Windsor uniform and wearing the long flowing blue silkcloak and decorations of the Grand Cross of St. Michael and St. George, accompanied by Lady MacGregor and Mr. Kidston, Premier of Queensland. Mrs. Kidston presented Lady MacGregor with a beautiful bouquet, and almost at the same time the band of the 9th Regiment struck up "The National Anthem," the whole assemblage rising as the patriotic strains were heard. The duties usually devolving upon a chairman fell to the Premier, who occupied a chair on one side of a small flag-draped table, while His Excellency sat on the other side. Near by were the Lieutenant-Governor, Sir Arthur Morgan, wearing his robes of office, the Chief Justice (Sir Pope A. Cooper) in court dress, the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly (Mr. J. T. Bell) in his flowing robes, Professor David (representative of the Sydney University) in his official robe, Professor Stirling (the representative of the University of Adelaide) wearing the scarlet robe of an M.D. of Cambridge, and His Grace Archbishop Donaldson in the scarlet and ermine of a D.D. Central Queensland had a venerable representative in the person of the Right Rev. Dr. Hay, Moderator of the Presbyterian General Assembly. The Roman Catholic Archbishop, the Right Rev. Dr. Dunne, had as his representative Rev. Father Byrne, the Administrator of his diocese. The distinguished company included also Mr. Justice Real and Mrs. Real, Mr. Justice Chubb and Mrs. Chubb, Mr. Justice Shand, Mr. D. F. Denham (Minister for Lands) and Mrs. Denham, Mr. T. O'Sullivan, M.L.C. (Attorney-General) and Mrs. O'Sullivan, Mr. W. T. Paget (Minister for Agriculture and Railways) and Miss Paget, Mr. J. G. Appel (Home Secretary) and Miss Appel, Mrs. Barnes, Mr. A. G. C. Hawthorn (Treasurer) and Mrs. Hawthorn, Mr. W. Lennon, M.L.A. (Acting Leader of the Opposition) and Mrs. Lennon, Miss Celia Cooper, Mr. C. W. Costin (Clerk of Parliaments), Mr. Anthony Musgrave, (Private Secretary to His Excellency), Captain Scarlett, A.D.C., and Captains Newton and Claude Foxton, honorary AA.D.C. Members of both Houses of Parliament, prominent public servants, the mayors and aldermen of Brisbane and South Brisbane, representatives of other metropolitan civic bodies, leading citizens, and consular representatives had their seats in the enclosure fronting the official dais.
By a happy arrangement the ceremony was inaugurated by the assembled children singing "The National Anthem," to which were added three of the patriotic verses of "The Australian Anthem" composed by Queensland's sweet singer, the late J. Brunton Stephens. The fresh musical voices rang out true and clear, carrying far through the still, scented air the simple words of devotion and patriotism—
What can Thy children bring?What save the voice to sing"All things are Thine"?—What to Thy throne convey?What save the voice to pray"God bless our land alway,This land of Thine"?Oh, with Thy mighty handGuard Thou the Motherland;She, too, is Thine.Lead her where honour lies,We beneath other skiesStill clinging daughterwise,Hers, yet all Thine.Britons of ev'ry creed,Teuton and Celt agreed,Let us be Thine.One in all noble fame,Still be our path the same,Onward in Freedom's name,Upward in Thine!
What can Thy children bring?What save the voice to sing"All things are Thine"?—What to Thy throne convey?What save the voice to pray"God bless our land alway,This land of Thine"?
What can Thy children bring?
What save the voice to sing
"All things are Thine"?—
What to Thy throne convey?
What save the voice to pray
"God bless our land alway,
This land of Thine"?
Oh, with Thy mighty handGuard Thou the Motherland;She, too, is Thine.Lead her where honour lies,We beneath other skiesStill clinging daughterwise,Hers, yet all Thine.
Oh, with Thy mighty hand
Guard Thou the Motherland;
She, too, is Thine.
Lead her where honour lies,
We beneath other skies
Still clinging daughterwise,
Hers, yet all Thine.
Britons of ev'ry creed,Teuton and Celt agreed,Let us be Thine.One in all noble fame,Still be our path the same,Onward in Freedom's name,Upward in Thine!
Britons of ev'ry creed,
Teuton and Celt agreed,
Let us be Thine.
One in all noble fame,
Still be our path the same,
Onward in Freedom's name,
Upward in Thine!
VIEW OF DEDICATION CEREMONYVIEW OF DEDICATION CEREMONY
VIEW OF DEDICATION CEREMONY
The last notes had scarcely died away, when the Premier rose to invite His Excellency to assent to the University Bill of 1909, and to dedicate the building to the University. He prefaced that proceeding by a speech, which summarised the course of progress in Queensland, touched upon the difficulties it had been necessary to overcome, and the achievements in settlement and development which had made this ceremony possible. More than that, it focussed as it were in a few sentences the destined scope of the University, and the liberal provisions by which it was to be madeaccessibleto "all our young people without regard to class, or creed, or sex." Twenty foundation scholarships were the generous birthday gift to the University. There was a great outburst of enthusiasm at this announcement, and the applause rang out again with renewed strength when His Excellency stepped forward, and read a congratulatory message from His Majesty the King. This was a fitting prelude to the able and statesmanlike speech which His Excellency made. This over, Mr. Costin presented the University Bill for His Excellency to sign. His Excellency dipped his pen in the ink held by a handsome silver inkstand, and affixed his signature to the charter of the University. Then, pressing an electric button, he revealed to view a marble tablet—the white stone of which the Premier spoke—designed "to mark this point in our national progress."
The building had now been dedicated, but it yet remained symbolically to hand it over to the people. This was done by His Excellency's presentation to Mr. J. T. Bell of the University Act, and Mr. Bell's acceptance of it on behalf of the people of Queensland. Eloquent speeches from Mr. Bell, Professor David, and Professor Stirling followed, each in his turn drawing from the assemblage the endorsement of enthusiastic applause. Once more the aid of the children was invoked, and, under the direction of Mr. George Sampson, F.R.C.O., they sang to the music of "The OldHundredth" "The Children's Ode," specially written for the occasion by Mr. W. J. Byram—
Dear land, the queen of all fair climes!To jewels of thy diademWe add to-day its brightest gem,A guiding star for after-times.Thy sons shall grow in wisdom's power,Thy daughters win an ampler grace,And both shall mould that higher raceGifted with learning's priceless dower.Here as the seasons wax and waneMay Science still increase her store,And Truth be reverenced more and more,And Tolerance and Justice reign.Father of all, our effort bless!Without thy aid we are as nought,We are but children to be taughtThy way that leads to perfectness.
Dear land, the queen of all fair climes!To jewels of thy diademWe add to-day its brightest gem,A guiding star for after-times.
Dear land, the queen of all fair climes!
To jewels of thy diadem
We add to-day its brightest gem,
A guiding star for after-times.
Thy sons shall grow in wisdom's power,Thy daughters win an ampler grace,And both shall mould that higher raceGifted with learning's priceless dower.
Thy sons shall grow in wisdom's power,
Thy daughters win an ampler grace,
And both shall mould that higher race
Gifted with learning's priceless dower.
Here as the seasons wax and waneMay Science still increase her store,And Truth be reverenced more and more,And Tolerance and Justice reign.
Here as the seasons wax and wane
May Science still increase her store,
And Truth be reverenced more and more,
And Tolerance and Justice reign.
Father of all, our effort bless!Without thy aid we are as nought,We are but children to be taughtThy way that leads to perfectness.
Father of all, our effort bless!
Without thy aid we are as nought,
We are but children to be taught
Thy way that leads to perfectness.
One graceful ceremony remained, and that typical of beauty, life, and growth—the planting of a tree to be known as "The University Tree," its destiny to grow with the University, and afford grateful shade to those brought within its wholesome influence. The pleasant duty of planting devolved upon Lady MacGregor, and it was carried out by means of a silver trowel presented to her by the Premier. The business of the afternoon had now concluded; the first step toward the establishment of the University had been taken: its future home had been dedicated.
The PREMIER (Hon. W. Kidston), in rising to ask His Excellency to dedicate Government House to the purposes of the University, said: Your Excellency and Ladies and Gentlemen,—To-day Queensland completes her first half-century as a self-governing community; and we are met to honour the occasion—to erect a white stone, as it were, to mark this point in our national progress. Fifty years ago a handful of settlers, not quite 24,000 in number, claimed and obtained the right to manage their own affairs; and the British Government, in granting that right, virtually handed over to those few pioneers the ownership of this vast territory now called Queensland—a territory exceeding in area the combined areas of England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Portugal, Spain, and Italy. If we consider how few they were and the way in which they undertook the work of opening up and civilising this vast territory, we must recognise that our first pioneers were men of enterprise, of self-reliance, and of high courage. (Hear, hear.) Although our population has increased twenty-four times since then, we are still but a handful in this vast land.
THE PREMIER (HON. W. KIDSTON) OPENING THE PROCEEDINGSTHE PREMIER (HON. W. KIDSTON) OPENING THE PROCEEDINGS
THE PREMIER (HON. W. KIDSTON) OPENING THE PROCEEDINGS
When we try to compare the Queensland of to-day with the Queensland of fifty years ago—the cities and towns that have been built where then was the untrodden bush; the thousands of miles of railways and the many thousands of miles of roads, like a network all over this great area; the rivers that have been spanned by bridges; the harbours that have been made; the endless miles of telegraph lines that give rapid communication between the townships scattered all over the State—all the things that go to mark a civilised people—when we consider to what extent that work has been carried out by such a mere handful of people, we may well commend the men who have preceded us. (Hear, hear.) And it was not only in the matter of material development that these men did good work. Many years ago they established an educational system which still obtains—a system so effective and comprehensive that all over this vast territory of Queensland wherever ten or a dozen children can be brought together there you will find a State school. (Hear, hear.) And even beyond that, by means of the itinerant teachers, the scattered children of the bush are sought out and have at least the rudiments of education brought to their isolated homes. (Hear, hear.) To-day we seek to commemorate our establishment as a self-governing community, and at the same time to show our appreciation of the excellent work done by our predecessors in opening up this new land and in promoting the civilising and humanising agencies that have made Queensland what she is; and I hold that we can show our appreciation of the good work our predecessors did in no better way than by imitating and continuing that good work. We who have eaten of the fruit of the trees which our predecessors planted; we, the men of to-day, may also seek to plant so that the children of to-morrow may gather the fruit. (Hear, hear.)
Perhaps, Your Excellency, I am not just the person to discuss educational methods, or to seek here to give instructions to the Senate who will manage this University; but I may express the hope that the University of Queensland will provide for the youth of Queensland the highest culture and the best university training that can be got, at any rate, this side of the line. (Hear, hear.) At the same time I would not have it forgotten that Queensland is a hive of working bees; and all our educational institutions, from Kindergarten to University, should keep that fact in view. There is this difference between the youngest University in the Empire and the oldest: Oxford was established by a King; the University of Queensland is established by the People. (Hear, hear.) Queensland is democratic not only in her political institutions: she is democratic in heart and sentiment; and the desire of our people for a University is simply the desire that Queensland may be an educated democracy—the safest, the strongest, and the happiest community in which men can live. (Hear, hear.) I would have the Senate always remember that it was the desire of our people that inspired the crowning of our educational system by the establishment of a University, that in very truth the Queensland University is "of the people," and I trust that the Senate will never forget that it should be "for the people." (Hear, hear.) It is not all of us who can go to a University or directly share in its advantages; yet the whole community should, and I hope will, receivea general benefit. I hope that its influence will radiate downwards through all the ranks of our social organism; that those who have the advantage and the privilege of the more liberal education which our University will give will be like the leaven which the woman put in three measures of meal, and will leaven the whole community. (Hear, hear.)
Parliament has made what I think is fairly adequate financial provision for our University. A sum of £50,000 is being set aside from this year's revenue for meeting what may be called the initial cost. (Hear, hear.) And, besides that, a sum of £10,000 a year is being provided for what may be called the annual working charges. (Hear, hear.) I may also announce to-day that the Cabinet, subject of course to the approval of Parliament, has resolved to institute a certain number of foundation scholarships as a step towards equalising educational opportunities for our young people and by way of opening the door to ability and special merit. (Applause.) It has been decided to establish twenty foundation scholarships—(applause)—tenable for three years, each of which will carry free entrance to the University and £26 per year, or, in cases where students, to attend the University, must live away from home, £52 a year. These scholarships will be equally open to all our young people without regard to class, or creed, or sex. (Applause.) There will also be a foundation gold medal, carrying a prize of £100 a year for two years, for the purpose of encouraging original chemical research—(applause)—a similar medal and prize of a similar amount, tenable for two years, for engineering—(applause)—and a foundation travelling scholarship of £200 a year, tenable for two years. (Applause.) The scholarships will of course be competed for annually, so that in the third and each succeeding year there will be sixty of these scholarship students at our University. (Applause.)
I now ask Your Excellency, as representing His Majesty, to assent to the Bill, which has been approved by both Houses of Parliament, for the establishment and endowment of the University of Queensland, and on behalf of our people to dedicate this building, now your home, to the purposes of the University. (Loud applause.)
His Excellency SirWILLIAM MacGREGOR said: Mr. Kidston, Ladies and Gentlemen,—The first duty I have to perform here to-day is to read to you a telegram which I received this forenoon from the Right Honourable the Secretary of State for the Colonies. This telegram is dated London, 9th December, at 1.45 p.m., and is addressed "The Governor, Brisbane." The Secretary of State says:—
"I am commanded by His Majesty the King to convey to you the following message:—
"His Majesty the King heartily congratulates the people of Queensland on the completion of fifty years of responsible government. It is the earnest hope of His Majesty the King that the enterprise and loyalty which have marked the first half-century of the State of Queensland may be its abiding heritage and that the prosperity which is evident at the close of this period may be multiplied abundantly in the years to come." "CREWE."
"His Majesty the King heartily congratulates the people of Queensland on the completion of fifty years of responsible government. It is the earnest hope of His Majesty the King that the enterprise and loyalty which have marked the first half-century of the State of Queensland may be its abiding heritage and that the prosperity which is evident at the close of this period may be multiplied abundantly in the years to come." "CREWE."
For two reasons I have put in writing what I have to say on the important subject that has brought us here to-day. The first is that I cannot make myself heard by a large audience. The second is that we are assembled here on the occasion of the Jubilee of Queensland, and that fifty years hence the Jubilee of the University of this State will also be celebrated, and it is desirable that those who participate in that ceremony should know in what spirit the University is being founded: what are our hopes, our aspirations, what appreciation we have of our duty towards our posterity and the future of the great country we and they have to develop. I trust that for this reason all speeches made here to-day may be carefully recorded, as we now enter upon a new phase of the intellectual life of Queensland, a matter that cannot but be of far-reaching importance to the next and succeeding generations of this State.
I deem it a fortunate circumstance that, a few days after my arrival in Brisbane, I should have the privilege of participating in a ceremonial for the establishment of "The University of Queensland," of taking part in a State function of historical and of great social and economic importance.
We live in an age of more rapid progress than any that has ever preceded our own day: and for my part I am prepared to believe that we owe to education the enormous advances in recent years in health, wealth, and in the amenities and comforts of life. It is now well known to us all that the nation that is backward in education is, or soon will be, behind in all that makes a people great and prosperous.
I am aware that these facts were fully recognised by many men in Queensland long years ago, for I well remember the former efforts that were made to found a University here—efforts that failed through causes that happily no longer exist. One of the most noticeable facts in the social and economic life of English-speaking people in recent years is the great impulse that has been given to the development and extension of university teaching. It may with a good show of reason be said that Australasia led up to the great educational revival of the last quarter of a century, by the opening of the now famous Universities, of Sydney in 1852, of Melbourne in 1855, and of Adelaide in 1876. Then followed the University of Tasmania in 1889. The wave of university education has left the United States with 40 universities, 16 of which are very great, and 415 colleges. The movement has been as pronounced in Canada, where higher education is receiving great attention, due in a large measure to the splendid liberality of wealthy and patriotic citizens. The same influence has been profoundly felt in the United Kingdom. The Victoria University was founded in 1880, and the London University was reconstituted in 1900. Birmingham University dates from 1900, Liverpool University from 1903, the University of Wales from 1903, Leeds University from 1904, Sheffield University from 1905, and the two national Universities of Ireland from 1908. To come nearer home, New Zealand has her University and affiliated colleges; and West Australia is at this moment taking active steps for the establishment of her own State University, so that it remains at present doubtful whether Queensland or West Australia is to play the part of the most retiring of this pleiad of Australasian Universities. Hitherto the youth of Queensland has had to go elsewhere for residential university education.Fortunately for Queensland, she has had an active and influential committee for university extension lectures, the members of which have patriotically performed good service to the State by arranging for lectures that have helped to procure from beyond the State university certificates of competence by a considerable number of the youth of this country. This committee has fortunately been able to do enough to demonstrate how much we need a University of our own. They are entitled to the warm thanks of the community for what they have done. I have had an opportunity of knowing from the admirable lectures of Professor David, on the 4th and 8th of this month, how interesting, instructive, and valuable those lectures can be. I have said enough to show you that if Queensland did not now, without any further delay, proceed to found her University, this, one of the greatest, most promising, and wealthiest provinces in the Empire, would, as far as education is concerned, occupy a very conspicuous and unenviable position among the great countries of the world; especially would this be the case in regard to the sister States and Dominions.
What is a University? I have seen a University defined as a place at which students from any quarter of the universe could be received to study, irrespective of nationality. What we understand here by a University, and what we aim at, is an institution where any person can find the fullest and best instruction of the day in any branch of knowledge. It will be the head corner-stone of the system of education that has been legalised in this State, a school that will be accessible to all, and will afford equal chances and opportunities to rich and poor alike, without reference to sex or religious denomination. I know of no institution in modern social life that equals the University in giving a fair chance in life to the youth that is capable and is able and willing to work; although, for my part, I can only regard schools of all grades as only preparatory for the studies that have to be incessantly pursued after one ceases to attend classes, if one does not resign oneself to falling behind; thus the primary school prepares for the secondary school, and that school leads to the university, which last furnishes the highest and best intellectual equipment for one's life work, an equipment of such character that it can be obtained and be certified to by the university, and by that alone. It supplies to the bearer the hall-mark of the State that the man or woman that bears it has had the best instruction that the country can supply.
HIS EXCELLENCY SIR W. MacGREGOR ADDRESSING THE AUDIENCEHIS EXCELLENCY SIR W.MacGREGORADDRESSING THE AUDIENCE
HIS EXCELLENCY SIR W.MacGREGORADDRESSING THE AUDIENCE
What is to be taught in the University? You will find that the University Act makes provision for the establishment of certain faculties in which instruction shall be given; the preamble shows that the University is to provide "a liberal and practical education in the several pursuits and professions of life in Queensland." In no other country can the pursuits and professions of social and economic life be greater than they are, or will be, in Queensland, having regard to the extraordinary multiplicity of its resources. Such a broad purpose as that set out in the University Act leaves little option to the ruling power of the University as to what subjects are to be taught. That question is determined in a large measure by the work of other universities, for it is a foregone conclusion that the University of Queensland is not to occupy a position in the educational world inferior to that of any sister university in Australasia. We are well aware that their standard is high; and we recognisethat we start late, and are therefore behind, and that we have a hard task before us to overtake the other universities; but this has to be done, and will be done. I dwell on this because there should exist no misconception as to the scope of the Queensland University, especially in regard to what is called the classical side of instruction, in contradistinction to the scientific or practical. We recognise that the literary records of the world have, in the main, been successively committed to the languages of the Chaldeans, the Greeks, the Romans, and the Anglo-Saxons. If those languages are dead, their remains are so constantly brought before us every hour of our lives that acquaintance with those of them that are usually taught in what is called the faculty of arts forms a necessary and indispensable part of the education of every accomplished or finished scholar, and of most professional men or women. At the same time, therefore, that this University will provide the best tuition in the classical languages of the past, we cannot but see that times have changed; that, for example, in no country in Europe or America could the Prime Minister now conduct official business in Latin with King or Governor, as was the case in England not very long ago. No Prime Minister could now electrify a drooping Parliament with a Latin quotation, as Pitt did. So far as I know, the last Parliament in Europe to use Latin as its language ceased to do so some three-score of years ago. The classics have come into disfavour owing in a large measure to the fact that they were overdone, that time was wasted on utterly valueless subtleties in learning them. They were associated with too much book and too little practical work. Here we shall have a course of classics, an arts faculty, equal to that of other universities, but without unduly encroaching on other faculties of more modern development and of more direct utility in the evolution of modern economic life. It would, however, be unreasonable to expect that the University of Queensland could be brought into the world full-grown at its birth. The University of Sydney began with four professors. I am informed by the very distinguished gentleman who is Chancellor of the University of Adelaide that the now great University of that city entered on its career, in rented premises, thirty-four years ago, with three chairs—classics, mathematics, and natural science. Now it has faculties of arts, science, law, medicine, electrical, mining, civil engineering, commerce, and music; and it has ranked, by letters patent, for the last twenty-eight years, with the old universities of the United Kingdom. The Adelaide University now has eleven professors and twenty-six lecturers. It supplies to us a splendid example of courage, of energy, and of perseverance, and that example we mean to follow. (Applause.) Our late start is not without some compensation, for not only are we able to profit from the experience of others, but, what is equally important, we can adapt our University courses to the needs of the country untrammelled by the vested interests and the threadbare traditions that make it so difficult for old universities to adapt themselves to the exigencies of modern educational requirements. If one thinks of Queensland as she was this day fifty years ago, and as she is to-day, it can be seen that he would be a bold man that would predict what faculties, what tuition, may be required, and may be given, in the Queensland University half a century from now. The moral to be drawn from this is, to make a start on an elasticplan that may admit of indefinite expansion. We require a broad and strong foundation, able to carry a great edifice, sufficient to provide the most comprehensive tuition, not only in what is known, but also to facilitate and encourage original research and invention, as set out in the Act. Even sport will not be forgotten, for it is an important consideration, in a non-residential university, to foster that feeling and regard for a bountiful mother that should animate the students of every great University. One thing is abundantly clear: that because we are determined to have a university equal to the needs of this great State, a university that shall stimulate those of the sister States, and because we start at so late a date, we must begin with the very best teachers that can be procured, the most learned and enthusiastic men in their several departments. On those men will in a large measure depend the future character and standing of our University. The best men will be the cheapest. Queensland can afford to employ them, and we know they will be a profitable investment. (Applause.) A university costs money, much money, especially in the technical departments, such as engineering, mining, and agriculture. The endowment of universities has been recognised in recent years as having such strong claims on public funds that they cannot be overlooked. That principle is accepted here. Our nearest neighbours have conferred valuable land areas on their universities; and they have been very liberal to them in money grants. In this respect the oldest of our Universities, that of Sydney, led the way with wisdom and a liberal hand, and to-day New South Wales reaps her reward. It may safely be assumed that the Parliament and Government of Queensland will be equally liberal and far-seeing. But the different Universities have in recent years profited in an extraordinary manner from the munificence of private citizens. In ten years the technical schools, colleges, and universities of the United States received in that way £23,000,000. Perhaps the largest amount of such gifts in any one year was in 1903, when they received £3,350,000. It appears that in 1907 nearly £300,000 was bequeathed to universities and colleges in the United Kingdom. It has become a common practice for private citizens to found a university chair to bear the name of a person whose memory it is desired to preserve and to honour. Others that are not in a position to do so much as that have very frequently established a bursary or scholarship, sometimes sufficiently large to maintain a student at the university, or to partly do so. The bursaries that produce the best results are those that are given by open competition. But others that are limited to a specified name or locality, according to the desire of the donors, are very useful. Some men of good will are not permitted by their means to do more than to found a prize for proficiency in some branch taught in the university. This State possesses an enormous area; the productions are varied in a very unusual degree, and they are of enormous value present and prospective; and there can be no reason to suppose that Queenslanders are to be less generous and patriotic towards their University than our neighbours have been towards theirs. I shall be satisfied if we have citizens here as generous as Russell in Sydney, as Ormond in Melbourne, and Elder and Hughes in Adelaide. I think that no more patriotic nor useful disposition of one's money could be made. We start under the best auspices, for we have before us now a most gracious message ofcongratulation and good wishes from His Majesty the King, whose life is devoted to the welfare of his subjects, and there are with us to-day representatives from the great Universities of Sydney and Adelaide. Each of these Universities has sent us a man of world-wide reputation. I know well what I am saying when I tell you that the names of Professors David and Stirling are as well known, and are as highly honoured, by the learned men and women of Europe and America as by the people of Australia. (Applause.) It is a great honour to us to have such representatives here to-day, and for their presence we owe hearty thanks to their respective Universities, and I bid them a hearty and appreciative welcome to Brisbane, for I feel sure that they and the Universities they represent will always extend to us sympathy, good advice, and an excellent example; and I am certain that they will be delighted to see us here in a position to offer them that healthful emulation that cannot but be advantageous to all concerned. I now, ladies and gentlemen, take the first practical step towards the founding of the University of Queensland by complying with the request of the Hon. William Kidston, Premier of the State, to assent to the University Bill of 1909; and I shall thereafter, in your presence, deliver this copy of the Act to the Hon. Joshua Thomas Bell, who will receive it on behalf of the people of Queensland; and, this done, I shall, by unveiling a commemorative tablet, dedicate this building to the purposes of the University of Queensland. (Loud applause.)
HIS EXCELLENCY UNVEILING THE DEDICATION TABLETHIS EXCELLENCY UNVEILING THE DEDICATION TABLET
HIS EXCELLENCY UNVEILING THE DEDICATION TABLET
His Excellency, having signed the University Bill, and assented to it on behalf of His Majesty the King, handed a copy to Mr. Bell, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, saying: It is with profound pleasure and great hope that I present this Act to you on behalf of the people of Queensland. (Applause.)
His Excellency:I now proceed to unveil the commemorative tablet which dedicates this house to the University of Queensland.
By pressing a button, His Excellency unveiled a tablet bearing the following inscription:—
DEDICATED
TO THE UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND
BY HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR,
SIR WILLIAM MACGREGOR, G.C.M.G.,
ON BEHALF OF THE PEOPLE OF QUEENSLAND,
ON 10TH DECEMBER, 1909,
THE FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY
OF THE
ESTABLISHMENT OF RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT
IN QUEENSLAND.
W. KIDSTON,
CHIEF SECRETARY.
TheHon.J. T. BELL (Speaker of the Legislative Assembly) said: Your Excellency, Mr. Kidston, Your Grace, Ladies and Gentlemen,—If I may for a second, before uttering the few sentences I propose to do, mention a personal matter in regard to His Excellency, I should like to do it, and that is to express the consternation I felt at the announcement which His Excellency made that in his opinion all the speeches that are delivered upon this occasion should be of such a character that they may be perused with pleasure and with instruction by those who are celebrating the jubilee of this institution fifty years hence. May I say that I find it sufficiently difficult to cope with my contemporaries without having to make in addition provision for posterity? I listened to His Excellency's address with the greatest satisfaction, as everyone did who heard it, because it was felt to be a fitting deliverance for such an occasion as this. Whether now, or five years hence, or ten years hence, or when the jubilee of this institution is celebrated—as it will be celebrated—anyone who wants authoritative information concerning the present education systems of the world, of the Empire, and particularly of Australia and in regard to this University, can turn to His Excellency's deliverance with the knowledge that he can get all the information there. (Hear, hear.) I at least feel—and so does everyone who has any acquaintance with the fact—sympathy with the allusion which His Excellency made during his remarks to that body of men who are known as the University Extension Council. I do not know how far back their labours began—it was certainly more than ten years—but these men, free from any instinct of self-advertisement, and prompted only by influences that were unselfish, did their very best in our small community years ago, and year after year, to lay the foundations of a university. (Hear, hear.) I am of opinion, although these things are difficult to trace, that it was the labour of these men of the University Extension Council, and their influence upon the public and upon the men in public life, which really laid the foundations of this gathering, and caused the Government of the day to institute the University. I say all honour to those men, and I hope that their names will be perpetuated somewhere or other. (Hear, hear.) I should like to say that in dedicating this building to the purposes of a University, those of us who are Queenslanders born and bred, not of the first but even of the second generation, must feel some interest in the transformation that such an edifice undergoes. I can only hope that it will play its part as well as a University edifice as it did as a Government House. Ever since, I suppose, 1861 or 1862, it has been the home of Her Majesty's or His Majesty's representative in this State. It was the headquarters of the social and political life of the State, and it has, through its various inhabitants, performed its duties well. There is this to be said, that it has housed in the past men of the character that it will house in the future—men who possessed qualifications that equally adapted them to live in this building in the future, and within its new surroundings, as they were qualified to inhabit it in the past. Let us think for a moment of some of the men who have made this building historical. Let us think of Sir George Bowen, our first Governor, a man who, before he became private secretary to Mr. Gladstone, was the representative of the Crown in the Ionian Isles, was an Oxford don, a fellow of his college, and a man with an academic reputation. He came out here and lived with us, and in one way at least hisclassical impulses have left their impression on the community in the nomenclature of a number of creeks and hills in Southern Queensland. (Hear, hear.) Then we had Lord Lamington, a man of some academic pretensions; but, greatest of all from a university standpoint, we had Lord Chelmsford, a man who was an honour to his college, his university, and to the State which he governed. (Hear, hear.) He was one of the very few men in the public service of Great Britain who had ever come south of the line who were able to say they were fellows of All Souls—(applause)—which represents in university distinction what the V.C. means in the military field. (Applause.) He was a man of qualifications that we were proud to have in our Governor, and I know that when the proposal was made to him that this building which he inhabited should be converted into a university he was one of the first and most enthusiastic advocates of the proposal. (Applause.) Lastly, we come to the last occupant of the building, our present Governor, Sir William MacGregor, and no happier instance can be found of what a university education can do to produce an Empire builder and a stern man of the world than is to be found in the person of His Excellency. Whatever may be the class of inhabitants who are going to labour within these walls in the future, they have had forerunners of whom they have no reason to be ashamed. Just let me add a few sentences more. This building has some distinct advantages from a university point of view. The sole object of a university is not to instruct men to pass examinations; it has a wider sphere than that. There was a time—it existed through ages—when the conception of a university was an institution that turned out scholars. To-day, I venture to say, it has become recognised that the duty and the object of a university is the production of citizens. (Applause.) And you will not produce citizens merely by making them go to lectures and periodically answer questions in an examination. In the university life one of the chief and most valuable features is the comradeship, the common citizenship with the other members of the university, the participation in athletic sports, theesprit de corpsthat comes from belonging to such an institution. And from that aspect I look with pleasure upon the Brisbane River, only a few yards away, where we shall find in the future, I hope, a university boat club, which club has always been a prominent feature of universities in Great Britain, as it is now becoming in Germany. And in connection with athletics, and especially aquatic athletics, you will find the students of this University will uphold the reputation of British students. (Applause.) I do not propose to speak at any greater length. I am convinced that after the liberal and, as far as we can see at the present time, adequate provision that has been made by the Government of the day for the management of this University, you will see men attending it who will make their mark upon the community. (Hear, hear.) I repeat that I hope that the test of the success of this University is not going to be purely a literary test, though let it be tested in that way too. I am convinced that those who look at the University from the broader standpoint feel confident that this University is not going to turn out merely scholars—merely men who can pass examinations—but is going to turn out men of the world, and is going to have a striking effect upon the tone of ourcitizenship. (Hear, hear.) I hope that not merely morals, but, in some degree at all events, manners, will be cultivated in this University; and we, a handful of people, who spend comparatively enormous sums every year on primary and secondary education, shall have additional reason to be proud when we see the effects of the University now inaugurating being spread throughout the land. (Applause.) I thank Your Excellency for dedicating this building to the purposes of a University, and I rejoice that we have a man of your character performing such a ceremony. (Applause.)
The Hon.W. KIDSTON: I have here apologies from the Chancellors of the Universities of Melbourne and Tasmania, regretting their inability to be present with us to-day. One of the pleasing features of this celebration is the kindly and friendly way in which the Universities of sister States have received the advent of their younger sister, the University of Queensland. (Hear, hear.) But the Universities of Sydney and Adelaide have done more: they have sent Professor David and Professor Stirling respectively to say a few words to us on this occasion and to wish us Godspeed. I now ask Professor David to speak. (Applause.)
ProfessorDAVID (Sydney University) said: Your Excellency, Mr. Kidston, Your Grace, and Ladies and Gentlemen,—It is a great honour for me, as representing the elder sister amongst the Universities of Australia, to bring a message of goodwill to our young University—the University of Queensland. (Applause.) It is under happy auspices that this young University is having this grand building, with such fine memories of the past, dedicated to its uses. We have in our present representative of His Majesty a gentleman of ripe scholarship and learning, one who has been throughout his whole life, as he is now and as he long will be too, a great power for good, a great power for all that is uplifting and ennobling to the British Empire—Sir William MacGregor. (Applause.) We have, too, this dedication ceremony performed in the presence of a representative of the Government who has shown that he has the greatest possible grip of all that is needed to make a university such as this young University a People's University; one, too, who has at heart, I know, the good and prosperity of his country—the Honourable the Premier, Mr. Kidston. (Applause.) The present Ministry, with great foresight, have resolved to make this University not merely a University of Brisbane, but the University of Queensland. (Hear, hear.) And it seems to me, as one who has studied university matters for some years in the past, that it is an act of great wisdom on the part of those who have controlled the inception of this movement that they have decided to associate here together the Technical College and the University. (Applause.) I feel sure that the association will make for the good of both these institutions, which never should be divorced from one another, and between which there should be nothing more than friendly rivalry, and always an interchange of courtesy, of hospitality, and of confidence. (Applause.) Another point, and a very important one, which I was delighted to hear from the lips of Mr. Kidston, is that this University is to be able to appeal to the farthest boundaries ofthis great State, by virtue of these sixty splendid scholarships which the Government have decided to endow—(applause)—that will bring in many boys and girls who otherwise, through remoteness or want of means, would have been unable to avail themselves of this University education. Thus I am sure that, although this University will start, no doubt, with but a small number of students, even amongst the small group of students who may come first to this University the nation will reap no less rich reward than did the University of Sydney when it started with a mere handful of students. That University celebrated its Jubilee only in 1902, and amongst its first handful of students was no less a man than he who was the honoured Chancellor of our University, Sir William Windeyer; than he who did so much not only for New South Wales but Australian science, our late Government Astronomer, Mr. H. C. Russell; than he who is now an ornament to the Bar, an honour to his University, and a great honour to this State and to the whole of this Commonwealth, Sir Samuel Griffith. (Applause.) Certainly it will not be for want of plenty of good material that this University will not flourish, for we in Sydney know of what splendid materials your grammar schools, both for boys and girls, are made, as well as many of your other schools. We know it right well in Sydney, for there, many a time and oft, your boys and girls take prizes over the heads of our own. (Applause.) Then a word in conclusion, and that is this, Your Excellency, and ladies and gentlemen: That, just as in medieval times when the universities were started, Feudalism, which made for isolation and all that was selfish, was broken down chiefly by the University influence, which gathered the people and drew them together in that great bond of brotherhood and learning, so in these troublous times, when class is ranged against class, and when Labour is pitted against Capital, surely we need the levelling influence of a University—not an influence to level down but an influence to level up in a noble, common brotherhood. (Applause.) We need universities as well as we need "Dreadnoughts" and Kitcheners—as we do need them to keep our country foremost in the arts, not only of war—even in war a university may do much; we have a Director of Military Studies at our University at Sydney, and I trust you will have one here—but to keep us foremost in the arts of peace. In the matter of the foundation of the universities of the Old World, you will remember that it was through the Crusaders that those universities were founded. It was the fiery zeal for Faith that started those universities. The Crusaders were brought into contact with the learning of the Eastern World, and so Learning and Faith were brought together in the foundations of those old Universities of Paris and Oxford. Sometimes Learning only flourished: sometimes only Faith: sometimes Reverence only, sometimes Faith. May it be our fervent prayer that in this noble hall both Reverence and Learning shall for ever dwell together in sweet harmony. (Applause.) As representing the older sister University of Sydney, from the bottom of my heart I wish to our young sister University on this historic occasion all goodwill—a message of goodwill, a message of Godspeed. (Applause.)