Thursday, 3 April 2025
Government House Sydney
Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC KC

Bujari gamarruwa, Diyn Babana Gamarada Gadigal Ngura

I greet you in the language of this land’s Traditional Owners, the Gadigal of the Eora Nation and I pay my respects to Gadigal Elders, past, present and emerging and to all Elders from the lands across NSW from which you have come today.

• Mrs Sarah Mitchell MLC, Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Shadow Minister for Education and Early Learning, and Shadow Minister for Western NSW
• The Honourable Dennis Cowdroy AO KC, Former Judge, Federal Court of Australia
• Mr Richard Dougan, Chair, Bush Children’s Education Foundation

Welcome to Government House. The ‘tyranny of distance’, as coined by Dr Geoffrey Blainey in 1966, applies to many members of the Bush Children’s Education Foundation and I thank you for travelling for the celebration of 60 years of this marvellous organisation. 

The fact that you are here tonight is emblematic of the belief that you have in the importance of education – especially for those for whom distance is a barrier – if not a complete bar to access.

The fact that you are here tonight is also emblematic of your belief that something must and can be done to alleviate the disadvantage that distance causes.  

Casting one’s mind to life in the bush in 1965, one can think of the Holden sedan, utes - the HD, the EH, often the FJ; dust, drought – the 1964 drought had extended into 1965, with the financial and social impact that droughts have in this country, and if not drought, then floods, the good years seemingly squashed in between.

The Wild Dog Fence was as important as it is now, until gaps or holes developed which were repaired by boundary riders and ‘doggers’. The board game Squatter, released in 1963, was played by many families. There was ‘School of the Air’  and ‘Correspondence School.’  And isolation.  Always isolation, from the things we take for granted in the city and larger regions.

As much as those things were the daily fare of remote NSW, there were also those who cared for the future of the kids from the bush.  Founded by the Honourable Ian Sinclair AC, Sir Leslie James Herron, Chief Justice of NSW, Dr Charles Huxtable, and Mr Ian Hardy, the Foundation since 1965 has quietly, but powerfully, provided the educational opportunities that these four individuals saw was lacking for kids in the bush.

Ian Sinclair was asked for his reflections on the inspiration behind the Foundation. He has written:

“I have checked my records of the Bush Children's Education Foundation (BCEF) incorporation in 1965. Unfortunately, I found very few although I do remember the background.

My association with BCEF was as Member for New England and a Minister in Coalition Governments with friends and family in Sydney's north shore through whom I knew the extraordinary Dr Charles Huxtable MC and Bar.  

At that time, particularly in the far outback, rural and remote travel in NSW was extraordinarily challenging and more so for education. Roads were predominantly gravel very poorly maintained and railway access limited. 

Long before satellites, telephone contact was mainly on personally installed party lines and not available to most remote country students. 

Travel and accommodation were costly and individually difficult, and the only government education was access to correspondence lessons.

In 1965, Dr Huxtable working with the Royal Flying Doctor Service at Broken Hill, was very concerned that most children living in these areas were denied a normal education and established the Bush Children's Education Foundation to help address the problem.

For a fortunate few, individual boarding was possible but wider access to hostels and group accommodation were the initiatives of Dr Huxtable and formalised through a Trust Deed for BCEF approved by the NSW Attorney General.  This enabled bursaries for boarding at the purpose-built Tibooburra Hostel and other hostels in far west NSW funded by individual and corporate donations. 

Significant in the education opportunities BCEF enabled was the non-exclusive eligibility of parents’ employment or family background and including Indigenous Australians. 

In celebrating BCEF's sixty years we should all be proud of the foresight of Dr Huxtable and thankful for the generosity of so many.

My regards,

Ian Sinclair”

Bernard Huxtable, Dr Charles Huxtable’s son, has also provided the following message:

“I am sorry I am not able to attend the 60^th Birthday function and would like to send my greetings.

My father’s interest in education started when he was studying and working at Prince Alfred Hospital.  During the First World War he acted as Medical Officer in the Lancashire fusiliers and admired their courage and humour.  He was concerned that they were dreadfully under-privileged showing effects of malnutrition, rickets, terrible teeth and lacking in getting an education.

When he became Royal Flying Doctor, he looked after the families who worked on the dog fence.  Every 20 miles a family lived on the fence line to maintain it.  Their children were under educated due to lack of being able to attend school.

As a result, Dr Huxtable raised money to set up a hostel at Tibooburra in the 1950’s where the children could weekly board. He raised the money while being Royal Flying Doctor and even got funds out of The Barrier Industrial Council. The hostel ran for many years until the need was no longer required.

It is interesting to note that one of the founding board members, Ian Hardy was Mine manager of BHP Broken Hill.”

Fast forward, 60 years: Some of you may say - some things haven’t changed! 

That is true of the harshness of the land, the isolation of remote families, the resultant barriers to education. The other that hasn’t changed are the big hearts of those who continue to be determined to minimise the impact of those educational barriers which still confront families living out west.

A few Statistics:

• Since 1965, the Foundation has supported over 3000 students living in remote and isolated areas gain access to educational opportunities, representing an incredible $3 million in funding for Scholarships, Rural Boarding and Hostel Bursaries.
• In the past 10 years, 555 Secondary Boarding Bursaries have been awarded to students, valued at $920,000.
• 90% of these families had an income of $80,000 or less
• Commencing in 2007, 31 university scholars have been supported.
• This year, the Foundation is supporting 5 university scholars at $3,300pa with a total value of each scholarship between $10,000 - $16,000.
• The first Bursary and Scholarship recipient, from 2017, Amelia Donnelly, who is an apology this evening, is this year a graduate of Charles Sturt University’s Bachelor of Nursing, working at the Orange Base Hospital as a Registered Nurse.

The Foundation continues to evolve to support young people in NSW remote areas.

Tonight, the Foundation launches a Post Secondary Non-Tertiary program valued at up to $4500 per student per course to assist students with travel, accommodation and ancillary costs of TAFE courses in Agriculture.

Initial courses offered include Certificate 2 and 3 in Agriculture, Dairy Production, Horse Breeding, Horse Care and Permaculture, Certificate 4 in Farriery, Diploma of Agribusiness Management and Diploma of Agriculture. And I am told, additional courses will be offered over time.

The Foundation works with the NSW Government to incentivise students to attend TAFE via the Government’s ‘fee free’ TAFE courses and BCEF’s additional support. BCEF is also working with major corporations and philanthropists to establish corporate sponsorship for students in this largest sector.

This exciting new initiative will help remote communities retain the talent and skills of young people.

To the Bush Children’s Education Foundation and generous partners and supporters:

As Patron, I thank you for your support of NSW rural students - and of families and communities in remote areas.

Warm congratulations on your 60^th Anniversary!