OPENINUl OF THL T, G. 3ILAItiG, UO0SA1M
PIMCE, CANJOWBAs ON~ 20TH KARCJI9 1963.
Sneech by tMM kELMe = istar. the B1. lion j~ Bober& denzielt
M~ r,. 3rain and Gentlement
For a lone time nov I have regarded Hugh Brain
an a good friend. Whether I can still put him In that
category will depend entirely on the close study that I will
give to the fall text of his speech ( Laughter) when It Is
available to se. Anyhow, I am free to admit that this Is a good
& y for him; it's a good day for Canberra; It's a good day
for life asn ce; it's a jaod day all round. obviously,
has been ctramming ippart of the history of Cnberfra. 1. came
here myself a relatIvely new boy, In 19k* so that you can
realise that having been here$ engiaged very actively in
national political affairs for tventynine years, you will
understand pe-fiectly why so many people refer to me in the
venerable sense. ( Laughter)
At that time, there were a few thousand people
here. There were a few shops. The residential areas were
quite sall; the great development in Canberra. has In fact
occurred since the war. And what a marvellous development
It Is, I know that only twelve years aaio I think I am
right in saying -there hadn't been a new shop, for example,
a new place of business built in Canberra for a long, long
time for obvious reasons. Mow, I find that If I go away
for the wekend, which I do occasionally to visit one of
the miore depnerate capitals like Melbourne or Sydney when
I came back there Is another incipient skyscraper beginnng
to show up on the landscape. The development in this place
has been phenomenal. That is to a very large measure due
to the wisdm of the Government in appointing John Overall
to conduct a Commission and its equal wisdom in giving him
what I might describe, with apologies to the frasurer, as
adequate financial backing. ( Laughter)
And one thing leads to another,, and the result
is we have these peat office buiLdings, we have these groat
establisunents rising up in Canberra, so that more and more
People are begin 4ng to understand that this Is not just
same ftmn little village, tucked away in the country rather
to be resented b7 the existing, States but that It is
Increasingly a national capital arnd viii take Its place In
the life of the nation so that as soon as -we becoame accustomed
to thinking nationally rather than parochiall which Is
very important, it will take its place In the iire of
lustralia just as dashington. does in the Inited States and,
jWeedt just an [ London does in the life of the United
^ Ingdo** And I think that It Is a marvellous thing that
this treat movement in Canberra should have been poWrfully
assisted by Imaginative men of affairs conducting preat
existing institutions. And the T. a, Is one of them,
The T, 0. not only makes its own mark in Canberra, 9 but It
helps to make a mark for Canberra. This is a real contribution
to the history of the capital city of what will be In
due course one of the gmet nations of the world. ( Hear, heAr)
And so this is,, in that sense, an histuric event*
am2
It is also, I imagine, quite historic In the
individual history of the T, G., 9 bemause whenever I have to
perform one of these rather agreeable tasks, somebody is bound
to Send me what they call sm documentation on the matter,
beginning in this ease with the list or the Directors. I read
that list and I recoiled a little because I knew most, if not
all, of them. ( Latighter) I said to myself, W~ elnt eIS Pot
on, Yost that's right." ( Laughter) & t In particular I was
fascinated to get, for the first time, a clear explanation of
how this became t6 be known as the " Temperance and General"
the T. 0, andI found to myintense satisfaction that at the
time i was & oru" the totnl funds vw" roughly a quarter of a
million and that membership was confined to total abstainers,
Well of course, at that time, let me see I iouild be
couple of years old I was a total abstainer; ( Laughter)
therefore well qalified for membershi.. at thena I looked back
at the list of the Board of Directors ( iaughter) and I thought,
" Ha, ha. Changes have cnme about in the world." And so quite
tre at a certain staje In the history of the Society, tAose
who drink fermented mlt or spirituous liquors were admitted
to the benefits of the T. G. Whether that is the cause or
not, I would bae to say, because I don't want to become involved
In more ar uents then I an already involved in but I do notice
that whereas the fumds were a quarter of a million, they are now
to be counted in hundreds of millions. The growth of this Society
has been phenomenal. That I think Is a matter for great satisfao.
tion. The third thing that pleases me is that this is not
the only Society of its ind In Australia, There are others,
same of the great ones exhibiting similar growth in modern times.
That makes one say to oneself, " WJhat is the great advantage of
this?" And, of course, you are quite right 61ir. The great
advantage of this is that as the practice o! l assurance of this
kind grows, so does the stability of the coanity grow, and
I an old.-fashioned enough to believe that the foundation for
future tremendous. national growth Is a good stable foundation,
and the stability of this country, the stability of families,
the stability of Individuals, the stability of governments is
Intimately wrapped up with the widespread a"* e tanoe in Australia
of the practice of life assurance. i don't t nk it exists in
other countries. I don't know, I have no statistics. I have
always had a feeling~ it doesn't exist In amn other countries to
the extent that it does here; because I know,, to take myself as
an exuple, most of us of my generation In the twenties were
taking out some life assurance, as much as we could afford to
take, knowing in the back of our minds that some day that would
give us a feeling of Security and stability that might set us
free for other more enterprising activities in o= m own lives.
Thereftre, I think that this country, this society
of people owes a tremendous debt to the iMa4A~ tiVe people
who, in the last century, set about creating life assurance
practices in Australia. Thei must have been regarded as rather
odd fellows in a Sense adventurers " Well how are you going
to get people to pay you premiums?" " How do you know you will
ever be able to meet the sun assured?" " Until you have developed
a large volume of business how do you suppose you are going to
get the confidence of individuals? w I know this is true,
looking back over the history of life assurance societies. Bat
the people who began them, they had some Imagination, they had
courage and their courage hasa been rewarded in the hands of
their descendants and In the pockets and lives of the people
of Australia* *& ee9/ 3
kiThe. a The thaw thing want to say is this*
kin ofthme that I have beai talking about. I a
great believer 1n oontizmdty. Sam * eapsla N
went, be's a preat traditionlist." " Ms I a$ 11 YU
1i1m. It doesn't mean to say that I don'i r" Sgise Cliango.
I havo besa respesIble for quite a Stw Woself in my own
time. ht I O-a tVWfttIOnmliSt lJA this Sense that 1 believe0
that a son" e of eostluI1 In the xinds of men and women
Is oe. of the peat assets of life. We didn't suddenly
pop up and Wini disappear tomerov. We a" e not be" e today
and Saws temo. We are in a oontinms procession of
people and we asi leak beak an fathers and panmbtheta
and mo~ m w ad grn at-o Is aid laok fwm'vad to what am
own ghandebil1* U or pea tga-iu~ de may be doing a" d
like to feel that they are lllasommething that tbimy are
determined to eamr ms. This, I thinkI hof the esseaft
of * ani~ ty. I hava said befbre today that azwbody wbaesares
to read the great speehes of Vinstoa CuImwll, In 191,0 and
191i 1942 and sayes to lp back and reed the great speeches
of tUm J= m Pitt at the time of tbe go 10ome threat of
the lATaS oflm O weat Britain will find Msoft t hins in
them, differnt ezrsse eachb umishlg It with Ii
oneloqeet sam rai lOS the some thlaq the
ff$ La t0e0s2 Mt h& n this oawm oO* fs@ a nILdJ I~ IInta t iwuy historyh. th eAd It Is
=! tratod in an IiVid" 1 " A" e Ie eae Owof the
vWr first direaetow of this SoetV vas a Stewart and he
was mAceddb his am who was a great frin of am I
am happV to saand he his Ismwh Is bare tda. " a~
mamy yea" s eSm= Ts I Mae t want to raise questiams
abouat the ' 15 or Vila " 45 now that I an mixed up with the
Thistle ( Lau~ ktou) but a fair open of desades of em family,
and that's a Jolly mead thing. It's a spleoldid thing to
thin that a SoetyV of this kind now so teodotasly strongp
so able to be vifrously enterpwri~ nf has been the result
of aonkd deU= a " ad P on ho part of sameration
a fter esmeratiaam. aijr I am delighkted to be be" e. I pimc
the ouiety an tUs imarabLe ackiemument and I wisOU0
the greatest possible smoess.