Representing the Premier, Deputy Premier, Minister for State Development, Infrastructure and Planning and Minister for Industrial Relations, the Honourable Jarrod Bleijie MP; Minister for Primary Industries, the Honourable Tony Perrett MP; Director-General, Department of Primary Industries, Mr Graeme Bolton; RNA President, the Honourable David Thomas and Mrs Jane Thomas; RNA Councillors and Chief Executive Officer, Mr Brendan Christou; distinguished guests; ladies and gentlemen.
I begin by acknowledging the Original Custodians of the lands around Brisbane, the Turrbal and Jagera people, and pay my respects to Elders past, present and emerging, and to all First Nations people here.
The annual Reception to celebrate the success of Queensland’s biggest event is always a highpoint of the Government House calendar, and Graeme and I are delighted to extend a very warm welcome to you all.
It is wonderful to see leaders from organisations that collectively represent the breadth of Queensland’s rural, regional and agricultural industries here this evening, including Queensland Ag Shows, AgForce Queensland, the Queensland Farmers’ Federation and the Queensland Chamber of Agricultural Societies.
I also warmly acknowledge the presence of organisations I am proud to support as Patron, namely the Royal National Agricultural and Industrial Association of Queensland, the Royal Flying Doctor Service, The Queensland Country Women’s Association and BUSHkids, as well as members of the media—including the ABC, 4BC, Queensland Country Life and Landline—whose work is instrumental in championing the bush.
No other event in Queensland comes even close to attracting the 400,000 visitors that pass through the turnstiles at the Brisbane showgrounds in August each year…
In comparison, the Commonwealth Games brought only 331,000 visitors to the Gold Coast to ticketed sporting events in 2018, so the Ekka has set a very high bar for the Olympic and Paralympic Games in seven years’ time.
One of the benefits of that annual pilgrimage that Queenslanders make to Bowen Hills is that it has enabled this State to accrue a very impressive store of expertise and experience in logistics and in event and project management.
That valuable resource will be drawn on over the next seven years as we see the showgrounds transformed into a world-class competition venue and see an Athletes’ Village built that can be repurposed as permanent housing after the Games––a true legacy project.
Such success would delight my predecessor, Sir William Cairns, who chaired the public meeting at which the National Agricultural and Industrial Association of Queensland was formed 150 years ago.
Sir William had initially had some doubts about the value of establishing such a body, but in February 1875, he received a delegation led by two very canny, entrepreneurial and persuasive businessmen – James Dickson who would later become Premier of Queensland, and Gresley Lukin, the Editor of both the Brisbane Courier and The Queenslander.Â
Unsurprisingly, Lukin published an enthusiastic report of the success of the delegation, claiming that His Excellency was so satisfied with the importance of the objects of the society, that (and I quote) he “immediately expressed his willingness to preside at the meeting and [to] give his hearty assistance to the movement”.
Over the following weeks, the public meeting was generously publicised in The Queenslander and, as history has revealed, it was a triumph.
A committee was quickly formed, a site was agreed, and the inaugural Intercolonial Exhibition opened on Tuesday, the 22nd of August the following year.
The original Society had just two very broad objectives – to collect and disseminate information on all matters to do with the pastoral, agricultural and industrial interests of the colony; and to hold an annual exhibition of stock, wool, agricultural produce of every kind, implements, colonial and imported manufactures, fine arts, and objects of general interest and utility.
That description would prove to be very far-sighted in its scope and, over the decades, would come to cover everything from Dagwood Dogs to the annual scarecrow competition for schools, the winner of which we proudly display here at Government House every year.
I thank the sponsors for their ongoing generosity in supporting this iconic event, and congratulate the RNA’s Councillors, senior management and Future Directions Committee for continuing to reimagine those original objectives. You have ensured that our beloved Ekka remains as relevant, important and enjoyable as it was 149 years ago. Thank you.
