Friday, 1 November 2024
Government House , Sydney
Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC KC, Governor of New South Wales

Bujari gamarruwa

Diyn Babana Gamarada Gadigal Ngura^[1]

Welcome in the language of the Gadigal people, the Traditional Owners of the land on which Government House stands. I pay my respects to their Elders past, present and emerging, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Dennis and I are delighted to welcome you to Government House to celebrate the first World Doctor’s Orchestra visit to Australia and to thank you for your contributions to medicine, music and to the Chris O’Brien Lifehouse, of which we are Patrons.

As Governor of New South Wales, I offer the warmest Sydney springtime welcome to all of our international visitors.^[2] You may have rehearsed in Melbourne and packed out the Melbourne Town Hall last night, but here you are, by the sparkling waters of Sydney Harbour having left the best place until last, ahead of your concert tomorrow night at the iconic Sydney Opera House to an audience of some 1,300 people.

I understand many of you will have at least a few days as a tourist following Saturday’s concert and encourage you to enjoy the best that New South Wales has to offer!

It was to the sound of the yidaki (or digeridoo) and the rhythm of clap sticks that I began my tenure as Governor of New South Wales. In May 2019 as Dennis and I walked down the driveway, we were welcomed by First Nations Elders and honoured with a smoking ceremony. The music and dance that were integral to that very special swearing in ceremony marked the beginning of our relationship with music here at Government House.

This House is a place for music. There is no ambiguity about the purpose of this room we stand in this afternoon. The minstrel’s gallery on your left was purpose built for ensemble performers, and the ceiling decorations overhead, a recreation of the way the room looked in the 1880’s, features an array of instruments. The first official musical performance here was for the guests at the Queen’s Birthday Ball in 1843, held for then Queen Victoria, two years before the building was completed.

In my time here as Governor, this room has reverberated with the beautiful voices of the Girls from Oz who came from regional and remote areas of Australia, to the pulsating sounds of the Zohra Orchestra featuring young Afghan women playing their traditional instruments, (before the return of the Taliban to Kabul) to the exquisite sounds of the Bach Akademie, a chamber orchestra which will be playing here again on Monday evening.

In our Ideas@theHouse series, Richard Tognetti spoke on the elusive topic of Nothing. At the time I was reading Norman Lebrecht’s book Why Mahler? in which was reported that Stravinsky, a contemporary of Mahler, in the moments before he came onto the stage to conduct stood quietly and emptied his head of all his thoughts and walked onto the stage with ‘nothing’ in his head until that first movement of the baton.  And then magic flowed.

Then there are our regular Jazz@theHouse performances on the first Sunday of the month which are now drawing an audience of over a thousand people to hear jazz ensembles from a variety of the States service organisations. For those of you who live in New South Wales, please feel free to come and join us for music outside on the Arcade and picnic in the grounds.

The only time of musical silence at Government House in recent years, was during the COVID pandemic when public events were not permitted. Like you, we adapted, and in July of 2021 conducted and online event featuring writer, broadcaster and psychologist Greta Bradman^[3]. And her topic? Music as a Superfood - How music can help us live longer, sleep better, calm down, find flow, and feel happier. It was a hit and apt for a time when many were discovering the benefits of music, particularly in supporting mental health and enhancing well-being.

As medical professionals and musicians, you are keenly aware of the healing potential of music.

Dennis and I congratulate you on this inaugural Australian tour and more broadly on the global phenomenon that is World Doctor’s Orchestra, founded by your conductor Professor Stephan Willich in 2008 and now involving over 1,800 doctors from 60 countries.

Thank you also for choosing to direct funds raised from ticket sales here in Sydney to Chris O’Brien Lifehouse.

Chris inspired people, both through his work as a cancer specialist and through his own three-year battle with an aggressive brain tumour. His vision for an integrated cancer treatment centre, where patients would no longer have to navigate their way through all the different elements of dealing with their illness alone, was realised a little over four years after his death with the opening of Chris O’Brien Lifehouse to patients on 19 November 2013.^[4] As Patrons, Dennis and I are very proud of the care they provide for cancer patients and their families and for their research and innovation which benefits patients here in Australia and around the world. In supporting Lifehouse you are “choosing hope”^[5].

We wish you well for your concert at the Sydney Opera House on Saturday and look forward to getting to know you a little better now as we enjoy this beautiful spring afternoon together.

[1] The Orchestra begins their concert at the SOH on Saturday with Deborah Cheetham Fraillon’s Tarimi Nulay (Welcome to Country) which includes Gadigal lyrics. https://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/classical-music/world-doctors-orchestra

[2] Approximately 80% of the orchestra are from overseas and a large proportion of the choir. There are about 120 in the orchestra and 100 in the choir.

[3] https://opera.org.au/artist/greta-bradman/

[4] https://www.mylifehouse.org.au/about-lifehouse/professor-chris-obrien/

[5] The Lifehouse ‘byline’ is “Cancer care, choose hope” https://www.mylifehouse.org.au/