NSW Governor opens the restored and refurbished Female Orphan School
NSW Governor opens the restored and refurbished Female Orphan School
Deputy Chancellors, Vice Chancelllor, Deputy Vice Chancellor, The Hon John Aquilina, Eder Statesman the Hon Gough Whitlam, Mr Collins, Mr Tanner and Ms Jones, Professor Liston, other members of Parliaments - State and Federal, Councillors, academics, colleagues and distinguished guests.
It gives me immense pleasure to join you all on this important and historic occasion.
First, I would like to thank the Thulli dreamtime performers for their splendid performance, and to record my respect for the traditional owners of the land upon which we stand, (the Darug people and to their descendants), and indeed to all Aboriginal Australians who have nurtured our great continent for tens of thousands of years.
It is a particular delight to join you this afternoon in celebration of the restoration of a most historic building.
Historic it is indeed, not only in terms of its age, its design and its miraculous survival over almost 200 years, but most especially for its humanitarian intent in a harsh age, deriving from that noblest of men, Lachlan Macquarie, the fifth Governor of New South Wales.
The Vice Chancellor has noted a number of very interesting historical facts associated with the building. And it is indeed abundantly rich in historical connections, as the fledgling colony's first building, created specifically for a charitable purpose, and on land originally granted by Governor Phillip to surgeon Thomas Arndell, in 1792.
Arndell, one of the seven medical practitioners allocated to care for the convicts of the first fleet, was at one time in charge of the hospital at Parramatta. Arndell's name lives on in the child and adolescent mental health unit based at Macquarie Hospital, North Ryde. [interestingly, during the rum rebellion, Arndell was one of Governor Bligh's confidants.]
We would all agree that the legacy of Lachlan Macquarie with the support, intelligence and determination of Elizabeth is incalculable. Macquarie and his wife were well aware of the relationship between poverty, disadvantage, exploitation, sickness and crime.
The condition of the colony's children (in particular) was very close to the heart of the Governor. His wife Elizabeth had experienced a total of six miscarriages and a daughter who survived only three months, before a son was eventually born in 1814. Sensitivity to the plight of the colony's children was surely a strong motivating factor for Macquarie's determination to ensure that there was a mechanism for responding to the social and physical ills which affronted him.
In regard to this orphan school, it is remarkable, I believe, that so much thought was given to detail, including the Palladian style of architectural design (the first such example to be built in the colony).
Furthermore, the young residents, some with a parent and others with none, were representatives of all groups within the wider community, -- children of convicts, children whose parents had died en route to Australia, and even Aboriginal children referred by colonial clergymen and magistrates; the latter were well meaning, but in retrospect also traumatising -- an early experience of the removal of Aboriginal children. Some of the young people were offspring of convict mothers who resided at the female factory, another historic building currently within the department of community services. Predictably a number of the girls graduated to become servants for the settlers, or wives for the colonial bachelors.
The splendid historical research of Professor Liston provides endlessly engaging details.
One recorded statement from the tongue of the Reverend Richard Taylor in 1836 which caused me to draw breath, is a classic in its confident discrimination -
"I admired the institution and the neatness which everything presented but I could not help noticing the ill favoured looks of the children who seemed to have all the crimes of their parents depicted on their countenances".
Macquarie, of course, decided later in the separation of church and benevolent charity, and established the benevolent society to stand alone, separate from the church.
It is certainly moving to learn that Governor Macquarie, despite the extensive and ambitious goals which he was determined to achieve for New South Wales, took time to write the very regulations for the orphan school, and even designed the uniform blue dresses, white pinafores and straw bonnets.
As we celebrate the opening of this important colonial building today, we honour not only Lachlan and Elizabeth Macquarie, but all of you who so value our priceless heritage that you had made this restoration possible - the Heritage Council, the Whitlam Institute, the University of Western Sydney, the architects and the many citizens behind the scenes who all ensure its ongoing preservation and place in Australia's history.
It is indeed a pleasure to declare the Female Orphan School officially open.
