INAUGURATION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND.
In older lands Time seems to move with so deliberate a step that his march is scarcely noticed, and the passing of fifty years is but a small matter, though within the past half-century discovery after discovery, advance after advance, has been made. Still these things have come gradually, and, like all the great triumphs of peace, have been achieved calmly, orderly, and almost imperceptibly. It has been different in these new countries, whose practical history comprehends scarcely more than the span of one man's life. Queensland has grown out of nothing (from the point of view of civilisation) to a fair stature of importance. Fifty years is the sum of its existence as a self-governing State, but within that brief period the country has been reclaimed from the wilderness, and made the home of a happy, progressive, and enlightened people. Bearing in mind what Queensland was fifty years ago, and what it is to-day, it will be admitted that its jubilee was eminently worth celebrating, not in a mere spirit of festivity, but in the spirit of a people conscious of what has been done, and full of enthusiasm for continued development. No better evidence of that could have been afforded than by the particular method of celebration decided upon—the dedication of the most historic building in Queensland to the purposes of a University. It would have been easy to have devised a more showy plan, to have arranged for festivities that would have given greater immediate pleasure, but it would not have been possible to have marked the jubilee day with anything so admirably calculated to promote the best interests of the people, or so likely to abide in the public memory. That was the view of Mr. Kidston and his Government, to whom belong the honour of having given effect to the long-cherished aspirations of that numerous body who desire to see Queenslanders an educated as well as a prosperous people. For many years there had been a movement afoot for the establishment of a University. As far back as 1891, a Royal Commission, under the presidency of the late Sir Charles Lilley, had inquired into the matter and reported strongly in favour of the project. Premiers who were themselves graduates of universities and cultured, far-seeing men had recognised the need for a University, but the matter obstinately remained in the air. For some sixteen years, largely supported by the Sydney University, a Council had carried on University Extension Lectures, educating not only the students, but the public. Finally, the present Premier, realising that the time was ripe for a definite forward move, placed educational reform in the forefront of his policy, and succeeded in getting legislation passed for the establishment of the institution and in securing a liberal provision for maintaining it. This much achieved, everything was sufficiently far advanced for an impressive dedicatory ceremony on the day chosen for celebrating the jubilee of Queensland—Friday, 10th December, 1909. It was not possible, of course, for the University to be actually in operation by that date, but it was possible to take the first step by solemnly setting apart for its uses the building in which it is proposed to conduct it. That was precisely what was done on this occasion, and with a simple dignity and an earnestness of purpose that could not well have been surpassed. Everything combined to make the day and the event memorable, to lift it out of the commonplace of public occasions, in a word to make it historic—the most historic event since the promulgation of Queensland's free Constitution. The building itself had been the honoured home of every Governor since 1861. As was happily phrased in one of the speeches, it had been the centre of social and political life. What more appropriate than that it should be invested with a new function—be given, as it were, a new lease of life in the great cause of citizen-making? What more interesting than that the chief figure in the ceremonial should be Sir William MacGregor, himself a great witness to the value of university training, a distinguished servant of the Empire, one of the select band of Empire builders who have united ripe scholarship with tireless energy and firm grasp of national business and the ways of the world? It was a singularly happy circumstance that this was his first important public act as Governor of Queensland. But a few days before he had taken over the reins of government from the hands of the Lieutenant-Governor, Sir Arthur Morgan. As befitted the occasion and the interest which they had taken in the matter of the University, Sir Arthur and Mr. Kidston also took a prominent part in the ceremony. The presence of Professor David, of the Sydney University, who was a prominent member of the Shackleton Expedition to the Antarctic regions, and of Professor Stirling, of the Adelaide University, lent additional distinction to the event, visibly representing, as it did, the cordiality with which those important institutions regarded the advent of Queensland into the sisterhood of Australian University-States.
Never before in its history had Government House been the scene of a gathering so unique. The Premier struck the keynote of the whole proceedings, when he said that they were met "to erect this white stone, as it were, to mark this point in our national progress." He was alluding to the marble tablet, which had been affixed to the wall near the main entrance, recording the dedication of the building to its new purposes. Also, he declared the democratic foundation of the institution in the significant sentence: "In very truth it may be said that the Queensland University is of the people, and I trust that the Senate, when they start to manage this institution, will remember that it is also to be for the people."
To the ceremony were bidden all who could lend to it distinction and interest. It was no mere official or exclusive gathering, but one which represented in full measure the democratic character of the Queensland people. Those high in place were there; those who in university life had won honour; those who had laboured to lay the foundations of the educational system of which this was the culmination; the people for whose children this was to be in a real and practical sense the great training school and character-building institution; the children from whose ranks were to be drawn the earliest students. The scene was one which will live in memory long after the University has begun its work, and will be recalled when in their gladsome, perhaps boisterous, fashion the students hold their commemoration days, or when in more thoughtful times the men and women who have gone forth from it girded for the battle of life revisit its shady walks and studious halls. The building and its charming environments lent themselves to an impressive spectacle. In the bright summer day, the well-kept grounds and the rich foliage of the neighbouring gardens presented a picture of rare colour and beauty. Beyond lay the broad river glistening in the sunlight. Above arched the ineffable azure scarcely flecked by clouds. In the distance lay the far spreading city, with its pulsating life and varied activities. Under the shadow of the graceful building and in a sweeping semi-circle were massed the spectators, with eyes concentrated on the main portico, which had been converted into a stage for the interesting drama of the afternoon. A curved structure had been thrown out from the masonry, and decorated and canopied with maroon and white. Grouped around this were arranged the chairs provided for the seven hundred invited guests. Among these were many wearing their university costumes, which vied in colour and variety with the dresses of the ladies. Beyond this enclosure were drawn up, rank behind rank, 250 boys and 550 girls chosen from the fifth and sixth classes of the metropolitan schools, each wearing Queensland's colours, maroon and white, and 200 State school cadets in uniform. All had been assembled in Alice street, and marched in procession to the space allotted to them. They were there for the double purpose of supplying a choir and adding to the representative character of the assembly. Beyond their lines were gathered the members of the general public. The arrangements entailed a good deal of planning and forethought, but every part of the ordered and dignified ceremony was smoothly carried out. The military element, drawn from the 9th Australian Infantry Regiment, was lined up along the whole front of Government House, the scarlet coats and white helmets supplying a fringe of colour to that part of the picture.
The time fixed for the ceremony was half-past 3 o'clock. The reserved enclosure was then filled, the intermediate space was thronged with school children and cadets, and the outer circle was made up of those whom interest or curiosity had drawn to the spot. It was no small evidence of the genuineness of that interest that, though hundreds were too far away to hear the speeches, they remained during the whole proceedings. They took their cue from those who were nearer, and when they saw or heard them applauding they joined in and swelled the volume of enthusiasm. One of the first to take his place on the dais was Mr. W. H. Barnes, to whom it had fallen, as Secretary for Public Instruction, to pilot the University Bill through the Legislative Assembly. Not long afterwards there came Mr. A. H. Barlow, M.L.C., the veteran Minister, who had had much to do with the preparation of the measure, and who had charge of it during its progress through the Upper House. Among early arrivals were Miss MacGregor, His Excellency's daughter, and Mrs. Kidston. Punctually at half-past 3 His Excellency the Governor, Sir William MacGregor, arrived, dressed in his Windsor uniform and wearing the long flowing blue silk cloak and decorations of the Grand Cross of St. Michael and St. George, accompanied by Lady MacGregor and Mr. Kidston, Premier of Queensland. Mrs. Kidston presented Lady MacGregor with a beautiful bouquet, and almost at the same time the band of the 9th Regiment struck up "The National Anthem," the whole assemblage rising as the patriotic strains were heard. The duties usually devolving upon a chairman fell to the Premier, who occupied a chair on one side of a small flag-draped table, while His Excellency sat on the other side. Near by were the Lieutenant-Governor, Sir Arthur Morgan, wearing his robes of office, the Chief Justice (Sir Pope A. Cooper) in court dress, the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly (Mr. J. T. Bell) in his flowing robes, Professor David (representative of the Sydney University) in his official robe, Professor Stirling (the representative of the University of Adelaide) wearing the scarlet robe of an M.D. of Cambridge, and His Grace Archbishop Donaldson in the scarlet and ermine of a D.D. Central Queensland had a venerable representative in the person of the Right Rev. Dr. Hay, Moderator of the Presbyterian General Assembly. The Roman Catholic Archbishop, the Right Rev. Dr. Dunne, had as his representative Rev. Father Byrne, the Administrator of his diocese. The distinguished company included also Mr. Justice Real and Mrs. Real, Mr. Justice Chubb and Mrs. Chubb, Mr. Justice Shand, Mr. D. F. Denham (Minister for Lands) and Mrs. Denham, Mr. T. O'Sullivan, M.L.C. (Attorney-General) and Mrs. O'Sullivan, Mr. W. T. Paget (Minister for Agriculture and Railways) and Miss Paget, Mr. J. G. Appel (Home Secretary) and Miss Appel, Mrs. Barnes, Mr. A. G. C. Hawthorn (Treasurer) and Mrs. Hawthorn, Mr. W. Lennon, M.L.A. (Acting Leader of the Opposition) and Mrs. Lennon, Miss Celia Cooper, Mr. C. W. Costin (Clerk of Parliaments), Mr. Anthony Musgrave, (Private Secretary to His Excellency), Captain Scarlett, A.D.C., and Captains Newton and Claude Foxton, honorary AA.D.C. Members of both Houses of Parliament, prominent public servants, the mayors and aldermen of Brisbane and South Brisbane, representatives of other metropolitan civic bodies, leading citizens, and consular representatives had their seats in the enclosure fronting the official dais.
By a happy arrangement the ceremony was inaugurated by the assembled children singing "The National Anthem," to which were added three of the patriotic verses of "The Australian Anthem" composed by Queensland's sweet singer, the late J. Brunton Stephens. The fresh musical voices rang out true and clear, carrying far through the still, scented air the simple words of devotion and patriotism—
What can Thy children bring?
What save the voice to sing
"All things are Thine"?—
What to Thy throne convey?