ADDRESS BY THE PRIME SISi._ IR % CITG. Ma( ZIEs. 14. 16.
OFICIA. OPZN: N(; OF " GEQEGE ? 4CtRIEPF BARRCH WbIEilAL., OCEAN BEACH. MINLY.
Mr. Chai man, Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlement
Just so I won't miss the bus, I declare this building open.
just so that you won't fall into a state of despair I see that somebody has
very kindly nut uP over there a notice next to my namsake, the sergeant, w~ ich says
" Four-hour Parking", I take it that that's the dead limit, four hours.
Now I won't go on for more than another three.*
Now you may complain about It raining, but I do not my one regret about this
rain Is this, I wish it were falling in Canberra-you don't need it, having enjoyed a
typical suuvaqr, but we do. But there is one reason I like to see it falling here,
you know, for years and years, shil" Yarsp I've put up with the unkind remarks of my
colleagues at Canberra, the ones who come from Sydney, making uniformly rude remiarks
about the Melbourne climate particularly the Mlbourne suarer -I had to come here
to discover It.
Now this is really a great occasion, I am not going to speak at any length
to you, you have just had an admirable summary of the history of this great Scheme
and the work that it does. But I'm here very largely because this work, this great
Scheme Is, I think, one of the most exciting thingsim Auitplial V will allow.
me to make just one broad remark or* this ' atter we have rather got Into the habit,,
haven't we, of looking to gonziiaents for .11 the 9eod things-that we thinkr out to
4be done. We have a very great disposition to say, well, wt pay our taxes, there
are governments, we elect them, we don't think such of thopi still thety're the best
we can get and we mst leave it to them until we get the opportunity of tossing
them out. All this, of course, Is highly Intelligible to me, but don't let's fall Into
the error of thinking that In this hummn Ilfeg, full of humaan beings, we can leave
everything to a govenment department, because as I once took the liberty of saying an
another occasion, there or# many departiments iWall gov~ m. entsp but I don't know a
single department of * loving kindness*, and If we're to have loving kindness not
parcelled out according to the Toles of the statute or the 2egVlatiena made under a
statute then It still remains for human beings to provide It* And the Interesting
thing in Australia is that so many human beings, relatively speaking, have seen this
challenge and have wonderful things for all of us. They my at some stage be
a ssisted by 3 qoYrr-. mht or by a depatet or by sme officials of It, but they
themselves have the vision, the imegination, the kindness In their hearts to start
the work. Now there are two great names as we all know9 In the Inland of Australap
one is the ' Pam of Drumond because of this Schee and the other is the name
, j04lynn of the lnland, with the Flyingq Doctor SeTvice, with a1l these things that
-: have been done, ( do you think I requiret this-) ( If I take this ( umbrella) I'll speak
long I think-you'd better take it back). Flynn of the Inland, now all sorts of
things happen In the centre of Australia. But you sea it was one mang with
imagination,, with devotion, wh~ o started all thee* things in the inland, and that's
whiy the name of Flynn Is imortal* And In this case It was 9oe man, quickly
accompanied by another, Drummond, and then Barron,-uho thought of this, v" e created
this, vdico provived the fire and the inspiration and the generosity to make it go on.
Really, I dare say that not all of you read the Bible as regularly as
you should, but there is one line in-. it that we ought to remember on an occasion like,
this and It Is " Let us now praise famous am and our fathers % bich begat us".
Let us'praise famous motn, We are praising one to-day -we are commemorating one
to-day in the n3me of this building -but really every night we ought to thank heaven
we hdve been able to produce in this country, people, of unselfishness, of skill,
of devotion, of Imagination, who have enabled these great things to be done.
When I was a very small boy In a very primitive section of-the bush
in Victoria there was a doctor here, another doctor 25 miles awayp that's true, but
what happened to little children who had some physical defect, some kind of complaint?
Without diagncsis, I wouldn't Mnow. When you think that in this very place,
hundreds and now thousands of children have been rmeolved and twated and given a
* vision of a new life, when you th. l*. of that, then this wouldn't have happened If
we, hadn't had people with Imagination, aided in this case, of course, by that
remarkable woan, Airs. Hill*
This Is a great tiuavirete, a great triuvirsea and although their
names may be personally unknown to a great number of peoplo in Australia, I can
assure you indeed that this great Scheme is increasingly well-knove to the people
of Australia and that they have a proper pride in Ito Now I call on you to have
pride in It, I call on you to'have a feeling of something like inspiration vwen
we think about. it. I call upon you to reember that what can be done by three
people, initially, can be d* 6* by three thousand or thre millions, so be it that
they have imagination and goneros~ ty In their mind* and hearts.
So, Sir, this Is a great hmian occasion* You are getting wetter
and wetter, and I, like all public speakers, an performing the remarkable feat of
getting drier and drier, at the same time. Therefore, to repeat myslf, 9 I went to
thank you for your patience under these conditions and to repeat, that I have a
aiinal honour inl declaring this building open.