Government House Queensland
The Governor hosted a reception to mark the 125th anniversary of the Queensland Braille Writing Association – now known as Braille House – and to celebrate the organisation’s long connection with Government House.
On 23 March 1897, a group of ladies met to form the Queensland Braille Writing Association with the purpose of providing books in Braille for the blind of Queensland. Among them, was Lady Lamington, wife of Queensland’s eighth Governor, the Right Honourable Charles Wallace Alexander Napier Cochrane Baillie, Lord Lamington GCMG, who would also become their first Patron.
Since then, Braille House has enjoyed Vice-Regal Patronage from each consecutive Governor, and Her Excellency was delighted to continue that tradition, presenting Chair of the Braille House Management Committee Ms Jaqueline Parker with a Certificate of Patronage along with the latest in a series of children's picture books produced by Government House in Braille for the Braille House library.
‘A Place for All Queenslanders’ follows a day-in-the-life of Mac and Mary, two squirrel gliders who live on the Government House estate. With their kookaburra friend, Goodwin, Mac and Mary learn all about the Governor’s constitutional, ceremonial and civic duties, before being invited by the Governor inside Government House – ‘a place for everyone’.
Since the book was launched last year, the Vice-Regal couple have read it at schools all around the State as part of the Governor’s commitment to promoting literacy for all Queenslanders.
