Biennial Assembly of The Australian Association of the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta ("the Order of Malta")
Reception in honour of the National State Executive and Senior Members of the Order
16th July, 2009
Your Grace, the Most Reverend Archbishop Bathersby, AO, DD,
National President of the Australian Association of The Sovereign Military Order of Malta, Mr Anthony Macken,
Vice-President of the Association and Chairman, Queensland Members, Dr Ian Marshall AE,
Members of the National Executive,
Senior Dignitaries of the Order,
Other distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
In the spirit of reconciliation that we wish to see respected and promoted throughout Queensland, I acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we are gathered, the Jagera and Turrbal peoples and their descendants.
It is a great pleasure - on the occasion of the Biennial Assembly of the Order of Malta, taking place this week in Brisbane - to welcome senior delegates and members of the Association to Government House. I am especially pleased to welcome to this ‘House of Queensland' and to our State, the delegates from other states of Australia.
Queensland is delighted to be hosting the 2009 Assembly, in a year which is very special to us - marking the 150th anniversary of our separation, as a colony, from NSW and the beginning of our journey towards statehood and the significant place we now occupy within the Federal system, as Australia's second largest and most strongly-growing State - in terms of both population and of our economic strength - which rests on our traditional wealth of natural assets and resources, but also now increasingly on the very successful diversification of our economy, built around the vigorous embrace of new age technologies and the significant investment made in recent years in the development of our research and educational institutions. Visitors who have not been to Queensland or Brisbane for some time will find a State and a city much changed, and indeed, in an ongoing process of quite dramatic transformation.
So it's a good time to be here and for me, an especially good time to welcome you to our State.
When Ian Marshall approached me about hosting this reception, it wasn't exactly a ‘cold call'. In my previous career, as an Australian career diplomat and Ambassador, I had encountered the Association and its activities in various locations around the world - and, as Deputy Prior and a Dame of Grace of the most Venerable Order of The Hospital of St John of Jerusalem - I am familiar with - and appreciative of the significance and history of these ancient and venerable Orders. In the case of the ‘Order of Malta' - to use the short form of its full name, I have another advantage. When I was Australia's Ambassador to the United Nations and Ambassador for the Environment, I had occasion to work closely with representatives, not of the Order, but of Malta the country and was drawn, firstly, to read a good deal about its history and then, two years ago, to spend a short holiday there, deepening my knowledge of its absorbing heritage, including of course, the extraordinary interwoven history of the Order of Malta and the island of Malta. (In February this year, here at Government House, I hosted a reception for the retiring president of Malta, His Excellency Dr Fenech Adami - who is, as most of you will know, a great friend of Australia, having visited this country many times.)
I spoke proudly earlier about Queensland celebrating its 150th anniversary. That's a modest span compared with the 900 year history of the Order of Malta. As those of you who are members know - but some of my colleagues present this evening may not - it is indelibly interwoven with the rich history of Europe, the Mediterranean, Africa and the Arab world. It embraces the crusades, and it plunges headlong into the fierce battles with the Ottoman Empire. It encompasses the Order's development as both a fierce fighting force (hence, I assume, the title sovereign MILITARY order), and its creation of an extraordinarily successful navy - while sustaining its role as a carer of the sick and infirm.
It covers also the creation of a unique relationship and status with the Catholic Church, and its itinerate status as a sovereign nation.
Like the Order of St John, the structure of governance of the Order of Malta and the management of your activities, reflect and perpetuate traditions and practices built up over close to a thousand years. Some in our community may wonder about some of these aspects, but as the occupant of a position which also has a long history and where traditions are similarly interwoven into the functions of the institution - and have substance and significance beyond symbolism and ceremony, I am always delighted to be with those who respect their history and accord value to their traditions.
Of course I am acutely also aware that traditions wither and die if they are not given a contemporary context and a contemporary purpose to justify their preservation.
It is here that the Order of Malta has excelled in sustaining its tradition of hospitaller - the care of the sick - originating in the care of pilgrims to the Holy Land, later during the crusades and the wars with the Ottoman Empire.
Thinking about the Order's genesis - about the crusades and about this question of the Order's role in present times, I reflected that it was interesting to consider that in the sweep of history, once again, we are experiencing a great confrontation, revolving around religious beliefs - a replay of sorts of what the now famous academic, the late Samuel Huntington, described in his famous treatise as ‘The clash of civilisations' -between Christian and Muslim beliefs. In his original article, published in 1993, he wrote:
"In Eurasia the great historic fault lines between civilisations are once more aflame. This is particularly true along the boundaries of the crescent-shaped Islamic bloc of nations, from the bulge of Africa to central Asia. Violence also occurs between Muslims, on the one hand, and Orthodox Serbs in the Balkans, Jews in Israel, Hindus in India, Buddhists in Burma and Catholics in the Philippines. Islam has bloody borders ..."
Fifteen years later, those fault lines still run deep and all of us shudder at the tensions over Palestine, with the Arab World and Islam.
These are testing times, not only for Christians and Muslims alike, but for the global community as a whole and we need people and organisations in our midst that will quietly assist our leaders and communities to provide reassurance and direction and to help maintain a calm and steady course. Organisations such as the Order of Malta Association, which has maintained true to its values and underlying Christian aims is one such organisation, pursuing steadfastly its efforts to provide assistance to the needy in all parts of the world without distinction of religion, race or political persuasion. The manpower you have been able to muster through Malteser International for this purpose is impressive: 2,500 members, 80,000 permanent volunteers, assisting over 20,000 doctors and paramedics working in hospitals, health centres and clinics in over 20 countries.
That admirable Christian compassion is being translated into practical help to those who need it most in Australia and in Queensland. That is, the homeless, the elderly, the disabled, the dying, the victims of Victoria's devastating bush fires and of the Queensland floods.
If we look to the future of your organisation the other great constant in your 900 year history is that the need for your function as a hospitaller organisation had never receded and indeed grows.
That future role will, I am sure, play a small but important part in helping to bring about a wider resolution to Huntington's clash of civilisations. We should be encouraged in this ambitious endeavour when we hear President Obama - in his landmark speech at the University of Cairo in April this year - presaging a new era of understanding and compassion. I quote:
"All of us have a responsibility to work for the day when the mothers of Israelis and Palestinians could, can see their children grow up without fear, when the holy land of the three great faiths is the place of peace that God intended it to be, when Jerusalem is a secure and lasting home for Jews and Christians and Muslims and a place for all of the children of Abraham to mingle peacefully together - as in the story of Isra, when Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed - peace be upon them - joined in prayer".
None of us I am sure would disagree with these noble sentiments.
I wish you a successful Biennial Assembly. I regret I am unable to join you at your dinner - but thank you for the invitation. I encourage you to stay as long as possible after your deliberations so you can see more of this beautiful city and State of Queensland and discover for yourself what a great history and exciting future we have been creating over the past 150 years.
Thank you.