STATi. V1S. T B[ T-E EMPEI. OR OF ET OP;. A
LUJC.: EOi I AT PAR1AlvEi _ T OUSi,
CAJBER-.' A, A. C. T. 14 MAZ 1368
Speeci Dy ti. Prime Mvlinis cr, W. G. Gorton, MP
Your Imperial Majesty, Your Excellencies, Ministers, Parliamentary
Colleagues and Ladies and Gentlemen
This, I think, as far as the history of our land is concerned,
is a unique occasion, for it is the first time on which, although our land
itself is age old and worn down with erosion of the centuries and the more
than centuries, it is the first time on which a people with a histioryof something
less than two hundred years has had the honour and the privilege
of having had a visit, Sir, from the ruler of a nation whose history goes
back into the mists of time and which was, with one foot in the Mediterranean
basin from which Western civilisation sprang how many thousand years
ago? a nation which affected that growth at that time.
That alom, Sir, is sufficient reason for us to extend to
you, as we do, the warmest welcome which we could possibly extend to
a visiting emperor. There is something about the land of Ethiopia which I
think all Australians, indeed all people of British descent my own
father included.., knew more about, had. heard more about not in
detail but had heard more about in general, the land of Ethiopia than of
any other land in Africa, or indeed, most other lands in the world.
Our minds go back to that fabled Queen of Sheba,
apparently, Sir, an extremely attractive woman, who had heard of the wisdom...
( she was an Ethiopian) of the King Solomon, and being a woman because
they haven't changed over these thousands of years decided to find out
whether indeed the wisdom of that King was as great as it . was reputed to
be. So she set out as chronicles tell us to prove King Sdomon with
hard questions.... something which women still continue to do and which
is not indeed unknown, Sir, in the precincts of the House in which you
find yourself. I like to think and again I go back to chronicles that
amongst the gifts taken by the Queen of Sheba were not only many shekels
of gold, not only large measures of precious jewels, but something which
chronicles describe as an algum tree. Now, Sir, I am not quite sure what
the prefix " al" means. I think it is an Arabic prefix which may be " el" or
may be but in either case means " the". So perhaps it was that the
Queen of Sheba took to King Solomon " the gum tree", that perhaps because
of erosion disappeared, and Sir if that is so, we like to think that because
in your land this grows so prolifically that it came back so many thousands
of years later from us.
But it is not only because of the storied land, it is not
only because from this visit derived the title ' Lion of Judah" which
Menelek I, five or six thousand years ago assumed or was given, and which
you Sir still bear in direct descent, it is not merely because of this and
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policy, and indeed, they are responsible for carrying out policies decided
by governments, governments being elected by the people of Australia because
we are, as I think you have been told, a country which is wedded to democracy.
The theme of this confer.. nce is, as I understand it, how to make
a machine work for the good of man, rather than to have men existing to
serve machines, how to harness the industrial development and invention
which takes place so that that industrial development and invention, causing
as it nearly always does, disruption initially, will nevertheless eventually
provide a better life than was possible before the invention took place.
This question is one which has bedevilled man for far back in
history. In Great Britain, the country from which my father came, I remember
reading of Luddite riots which took place when, for the first time, the cottage
industries which had employed people in weaving and other methods of making
their living were threatened by the incipient factories Mhich at that time were
brought in because it was found that things could be made cheaper, and in
many cases better. But although things could be made cheaper, and in many
cases better, nevertheless a pattern of life was disrupted and a pattern of
home employment was put in jeopardy, and so there were riots.
Yet, the eventual results of the invention, of course, advanced
immensely the material standard of living of those in that country
In the case of the Industrial revolution which swept the world 1 suppose, if
I may oversimplify beginning with the invention of steam, in that time also
we had the same problem repeated, with great industrial capacity created,
with infinitely more efficiency brought to bear on the production of the needs
of individual people, but with individual people indiscriminately being herded
into those " dark Satanic mills" about which words were written at the time.
Well, we have moved from those days. We have moved to understand,
as this conference will discuss, how we can use the new inventions which come
pouring in upon us, which must in many cases disrupt existing patterns o
empbyment how we can use them so that we avoid human distress, so that
we avoid human displacement, so that we achieve the benefits that the new
inventions will bring to us.
In order to do this, we need more than a mcre understanding of
the inventions themselves, than a mere understanding of the application of
new principles, important though this may be, for these new scientific
achievements, these new technological achievements are bringing to us
as human beings a capacity for good which I think has not been known in the
world before to the extent to which it is, and a capacity for evil, which I
think has not been known in the world before to the extent to which it is.
just as the invention of fire was the invention of something which could be
used on the hearth of a home to warm a fami ly during a winter's night, or
to provide a meal which was not raw and half-burnt, so the invention of fire
could be used, and has been used, to destroy cities and irreplaceable
libraries. just as the understanding of the atom has enabled immense
advantage in medical techniques and in industrial techniques, and I think and
hope for the future, provided a chance for dry continents such as our own
to take water from the sea and turn that water into the fresh water that we
need, so the understanding of the atom has also given an opportunity for
cities and regions to be laid waste. / 3
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Therefore, it is more than n-arely understanding the
scientific changes, more than merely understanding the technological
changes which are required. It is an understanding of human hearts.
It is a call to educate human beings to see that these great powers now
being released are used for good and are not used for evil.
Beyond that, and I think below that, but nevertheless of
immense importance, is this requirement to understand what human needs
are. I know they vary; of course they must from individual to individual.
But there probably must be, I think, some common human requirement
if an individual is to feel himself fulfilled, if he is to feel that he is living
a not merely materially successful, but a satisfactory life.
These things, I think, we do not yet know, but because
one of the by-products of the scientific revolution is that there is goi ng to
be more and more leisure, more and more capacity for an individual to
move away from the hourly requirement to earn and leave him more time
to develop I did not say " ejo" but to develop oneself must be regarded
as enjoyment we need to know more about what it is that people wish to
do in this way, and to provide that along with the harnessing of the
scientific and technical advances made.
That I think, Your Royal H-ighness, is one of the basic
ideas underlying the whole of this conference, and indeed, the other
conferences you have held. Because these are problems which are not
confined to one country but problems which in varying degrees already
encompass the countries of the world and will in the future encompass in
greater degree more countries, it is time and more than time that people
gathered, as you have gathered, to discuss these matters. And it may
be that if from. your discussions come some ideas which, as ideas are
inclined to do, filter slowly, but filter through a community and then to
a government, then it may be that you will be providing for your children
or your grandchildren a world in which the great advances which have been
made will be understood, will be used in a proper way in the world, and
what I think we all seek more than anything else the individual can feel
he is contributing to the community in which he lives, can get satisfaction
from that, can feel that whatever it is inside him which is able to be developed,
whether it be musical talent, artistic talent, literary talent, or any -other
talent, is being full opportunity to burgeon and develop, If this harp. ns,
then a great service will have been done to mankind.
And so I wish you well in your deliberations. I have
great pleasure in welcoming you again, if I may, to the National Capital,
and I hope when you disperse to the cities of this Commonwealth that you
will see for yourselves the problems still remaining and perhaps suggest
some solution. If in your discussions you disagree as to the precise
solutions or even as to the precise problems, well, Sir, that will be not at
all surprising because it is not unknown for us to disagree amongst ourselves.
I thank you.