Thursday, February 14, 2008

Pick of today's maiden speeches: McKew

What fired Maxine

“Part of what I care about - friendship, beauty, the life of the mind – was nurtured by my teachers at All Hallows Convent, a school that sits high above the Brisbane River and overlooks the bridge built by my Grandfather.

The older I get the more I appreciate that I was taught by women, by lay and religious staff, who seemed to me to know what was worth knowing.

When one considers the deep provincialism of Queensland during this period this seems extraordinary.

But the best of these women were not bound by borders or prejudice. They did what all good teachers do, they took their charges on a journey and they fired the imagination.”