Well good morning. Mr Michael Phillips the Principal of Ringwood Secondary College, Mr Chris Young the President of the School Council, my parliamentary colleague Phil Barresi the Member for Deakin, students, ladies and gentlemen.
I count it a very special privilege to share for a few moments this very important birthday of this school, a school that has been no ordinary school within the Victorian public education system. Not only do you celebrate 50 years, but you also celebrate a remarkable and distinctive contribution to the life of your district and also the contribution that the graduates of your school have made to Australian society. It';s always interesting on occasions such as this to think about what things were like 50 years ago, to think how the world has changed. But it';s also important to think of the 50 years that you will face which will canvass the most challenging and the most fruitful years of your life. You will leave school in an Australian community that is strong and optimistic and confident. You will leave school at a time when employment opportunities are greater than they have been for some time, but you will nonetheless have to work hard to take best advantage of those opportunities.
Fifty years ago the opportunities for girls in our society were not as great as they are now. That';s one of the big changes over the last 50 years. Fifty years ago nobody had heard of, certainly most of us hadn';t heard of computers and nobody had heard of emails, and the idea of having a mobile phone was sort of, you know, absolutely not in contemplation. Indeed 50 years ago not all homes in Australia had landlines. Fifty years ago the world worried that the two power blocs, one led by the United States and the other led by the Soviet Union, were going to blow each other up with nuclear weapons. That has changed somewhat with the disappearance of the Soviet Union. And here';s something that';s very different – 50 years ago England had just beaten us in cricket and reclaimed the Ashes, which they were to hold on to in subsequent occasions, only to lose them back to Australia in the late 1950s.
The world is a very different place. There is no point in arguing whether it';s better or worse. I think it';s better because I think the opportunities for people now are greater than what they were 50 years ago. And through that period of time there have been some constants. There have been the importance to you of your families. The values that your families teach you are the values that sustain you through your life. The importance of your school community, the dedication of your teachers. Teaching is a noble profession and one that should be greatly prized and respected within our community. Something else that has happened over the last 50 years that';s very important is the way in which this country has been aware, become more aware of its cultural capacities and its cultural contributions.
This school is renowned for its performing arts. It is renowned for its understanding of those aspects of life that go to issues of culture and issues of artistic expression. And over the last 50 years, Australia has certainly become more self-confident about its own individual identity and the capacity to express the Australian ways with Australian voices, the way we see ourselves and the way we relate to the rest of the world. And your school in that sense, more than most, has been able to make a particular contribution. I want simply to congratulate you on what you have achieved, to honour your teachers, to pay respect to the school community, and to thank all of you for the collective contribution the school has made to the life and work of this part of Melbourne and of Australia generally.
But most importantly of all, may I wish the young students of this College every success and every fulfilment. Don';t settle for second best. Be optimistic. Think the best of people because – and this is a little homily I give every school gathering I go to – and that is to say when I was at school the happiest people I found were those who thought the best of their schoolmates. The miserable, most unhappy, downcast were those who were always grizzling and groaning about how terrible other people were. There is a positive side to everybody. I know you find that hard to imagine on some occasions. And I have found it is a great rule of life that if you apply that you end up being a far happier individual.
But you';ll leave school and enter a very positive but challenging world. Make the best of your opportunities. Treasure your school years. Remember the advice of your teachers, even though you don';t on occasion like to take it. And I wish all of you very good fortune in the years ahead and thank you very much for having me.
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