ProfessorSTIRLING (Adelaide University) said: Your Excellency, Mr. Premier, and Ladies and Gentlemen,—My first duty is to present to the Government of Queensland, on behalf of the University of Adelaide, its very cordial thanks for the invitation so courteously extended to it that it should be represented on an occasion which will assuredly be a memorable episode in the annals of this great and prospering State. And in this connection I am desired by our Chancellor, Sir Samuel Way, to convey to this gathering his great regret that his judicial duties, now of a very exacting kind, have prevented his acceptance of the invitation extended to him in the first place as our chief official, and of doing honour to the event that is being celebrated. My second and principal duty is to offer the cordial congratulations of the University I represent to the Government of Queensland, and through it to its whole people, that now at last, after many years, the keystone is being placed upon the arch of the educational edifice of this State. (Hear, hear, and applause.) I have had the honour of being connected with the University of Adelaide ever since its foundation, now thirty-four years ago. I can well remember its early struggles, its efforts to take a fitting place in our national life, and I am glad to have lived long enough to see many of its aspirations fulfilled—(hear, hear)—aspirations that have been fulfilled in spite of what has not always been a very whole-hearted support either on the parts of successive Governments or of the people for whose benefit it was intended. But I think it is now well recognised that the University is playing a useful and essential part in the intellectual life of the community, and that any arrest to its progress would be nothing short of national disaster. These recollections of our early struggles lead me to say that it will now be very interesting to us, as onlookers, to see whether this last-born of the great educational centres of Australia—founded as it has been by a Government that claims to be at least as democratic as the Governments of its sister States—will escape the criticisms, sometimes quite undeserved, that have at one time or another been directed, certainly against my own University, and, as I think I may say also, against its sister institutions. Then, too, in the adjustment of the work of the University there will no doubt recur the perennial discussion—indeed it has already been initiated to-day by His Excellency—as to the relative importance in an educational system of culture as opposed to material science. I am glad that I am not called upon to enter into that question to-day. But, speaking now from a point of view which concerns literature no less than science, I may be permitted to say that it is gratifying to hear the announcement of the Honourable the Premier that the claims of original research will be brought within the scope of the institution which takes its origin to-day. (Applause.) Surely it is a desirable, even a necessary, function of the chief seat of learning of a State that its professors and teachers should not only teach that which is known, but that they should themselves be contributors to the sum of human knowledge. There can be no doubt that the prestige of a university depends far more upon the extent to which its teachers are known as originators of knowledge than upon their daily routine lectures, however honestly or however ably these may be delivered.
LADY MacGREGOR PLANTING THE UNIVERSITY TREELADY MacGREGOR PLANTING THE UNIVERSITY TREE
LADY MacGREGOR PLANTING THE UNIVERSITY TREE
Every professor worthy the name will admit that the burden of teaching, unrelieved and uninspired by the stimulus of independent work and thought, may indeed become destructive of the intellectual energies. This infant University, launched as it is upon its career with the goodwill of a prudent Government and with, I believe, to an unusual degree the good wishes and support of the people, has the great advantage that it may profit by the example of the institutions that have preceded it; and fortunate will be the University of Queensland if, by adopting the good that may be discerned in its sister institutions, and by avoiding their mistakes, if such have been made, it shall enter upon and pursue a blameless career of which all men shall speak well. Even in their relatively short careers, as time goes for States and institutions, it can be perceived that the Australian Universities have to some extent developed individualities of their own, and this is just what is to be desired. A Minister of France under the Third Empire once made it his boast that on the same day and at the same hour every corresponding class in every Lycee throughout the length and breadth of the land was performing the same allotted task. That boast bespoke an undesirable uniformity which is not likely to find favour in British communities, least of all in these States, where we have become accustomed to strike out new lines in education for ourselves. Therefore, it is to be desired that the University of Queensland will in its turn, evolve an individuality of its own, that it will be inspired by the particular requirements of the State whose interests it serves; and, further, may I express the hope that the fact will become recognised, which has not easily gained recognition in the Australian communities—namely, that a well-founded and well-equipped university may be one of the best assets, material as well as intellectual, that can be possessed by any State or Nation. Your Excellency, I have been ordered to be brief in my remarks, and, interesting as are many of the thoughts that arise on such an exceptional occasion, I must conclude by expressing once more, on behalf of the University I have the honour to represent, and with all earnestness and sincerity, our fervent hope that this University of Queensland, so auspiciously inaugurated, will prosper to the uttermost, and that it will grow in usefulness and dignity as it grows in years, and that at length it will stand forth as a noble monument to the great State whose far-seeing Government and whose public-spirited citizens have this day launched it on its career of promise. (Applause.)
The Hon.W. KIDSTON: I have now to invite Her Excellency, Lady MacGregor, to plant a "University tree," which I hope will grow and flourish as we expect the University to do, and that in the years to come, when many who are here to-day have passed away, the tree will be known as "Lady MacGregor's tree."
On a spot in front of the dais, Her Excellency planted a tree with a silver trowel on which was inscribed: "To Lady MacGregor, from the Chief Secretary of Queensland, Hon. W. Kidston, 10th December, 1909." Lady MacGregor then declared the tree well and truly planted.
BRISBANE:
ANTHONY JAMES CUMMING, GOVERNMENT PRINTER.
1909.
Missing or damaged punctuation has beed repaired.
L.s.,locus sigilli( = the place of the seal).
The mid-dot, usual for the period, was used for decimals, and where used, has been retained.
Part of the text of Map 8 was on the next page after 2 pages of maps, and has been moved to join the beginning of the map 8 text, for better flow.
The Barwan River, described in the Proclamation in the Government Gazette, and under Queensland (Map 9) is now known as the Barwon River.
Illustrations (photographs) through the book appear facing every 4th or 8th page. Where a photograph intersects a paragraph of text, it has been moved to the end of the next (or preceding) paragraph.
Page 27: 'freetrade' corrected to 'free trade'"... the enhanced prosperity resulting from interstate free trade."
Page 69: 'arrear', archaic, but probably correct in 1909."... unoccupied land might be leased for fourteen years by a council when rates had been permitted to fall into arrear for a term of four years." (Webster's Dictionary, 1913 Edition).
Page 207: Mining: 1872: Gold raised in Queensland: £537,365The first '3' could be '2'. The scan is smudged and unclear.
Page 229: 'Mount Cornish, No. 3'.The '3' may be a '5'. The scan is smudged and unclear.
Page 237: Brisbane, mean summer temperature, '76.0' could be '73.0' or '75.0'. This is a 'best guess'; the scan is smudged and unclear, and part of the number is missing. '76.0' has been selected after a careful comparison of the '6' with nearby numbers. 76.0°F is also closest to the current Brisbane mean summer temperature of 24.8°C, or 76.6°F, and in the same chart, the current Brisbane mean winter temperature of 15.6°C, or 60°F is the same as that given in this 1909 book (60°F).
Page 243: 'acessible' corrected to 'accessible'"... by which it was to be made accessible to "all our young people without regard to...."
The corrections and explanations listed above are also indicated in the text by a dashed line at the appropriate place:Move the mouse over the word, and the original text, or explanation,appears.