Beenleigh Historical Village & Museum Heritage Day

Thank you, Mr Kerkow, for your warm welcome this morning – punctuated by a gunshot volley – what a way to make an entrance!

I too acknowledge our special guests; ladies and gentlemen; girls and boys.

I am honoured to visit Beenleigh today, representing the people of Queensland, to unveil the historic Cairn and rebury the time capsule first committed by another Governor of Queensland, Sir Abel Smith, way back in 1964.

Queensland has changed a lot since then, growing in both size and sophistication.

I wonder what the Queenslanders of the future will make of us, their 2018 counterparts, when they unearth the time capsule we will conceal today?

Perhaps, among their numbers will be the great-grand children of some of you here today.

No doubt, after the initial chuckles at how fashion has come full circle, they will comment that, in essence, Queenslanders have not changed much at all.

That is the realisation we so often have when we explore the history of our vast State.

Certainly, the way we improve on our daily efficiencies might change; infrastructure grows while societies shift and diversify.

But ultimately, at heart, the qualities, ambitions and concerns of Queenslanders have always remained much the same.

Which makes me wonder at the courage of the first colonial settlers who chose this part of Australia to call home.

For those early pioneers this must have seemed a strange landscape, so very different from the familiar fields of home.

The preservation of places such as this is vital to our acknowledgement of their strength, tenacity and spirit.

The Beenleigh Historical Village and Museum is indeed a tremendous community asset, and I congratulate the many volunteers who continue to be committed to the preservation – and celebration – of your region’s past, while maintaining a focus on the future.

And it is a focus so wonderfully illustrated by a historic day such as this, when in a matter of moments we will rebury the time capsule.

I am sure you are all very keen to get the proceedings underway, and I believe I am to begin the process, so please enjoy your day as we celebrate the past, present and future of Beenleigh.

Thank you.