Received from The Hon Michael Kirby on the HSC results and other memories: Dear Denice, Thank you for what you are doing for the School and its long traditions and current excellence. I agree that the 2014 HSC results were a great tribute to the pupils and teachers at Fort Street and to the cause of public education in Australia: free, compulsory, secular and excellent. I had lunch today in Sydney with Owen Nanlohy (FS 2005) who is studying law at Oxford. He came back to Australia at the same time as I returned from Geneva last Monday. He then proceeded to the School to give a talk to year 10 students. This is the kind of commitment that I like to see, especially in a younger Fortian. I congratulated and thanked him (and even paid for the lunch). I am not sure that the administration at the school is as skilled in media outreach as private schools are. I think there is something about the public sector modesty and silence that prevents proper assertion in the media of the outstanding results of public schools. It would be good if the Union could issue a media release giving some angles on the amazing 2014 HSC results. It is wonderful to see the dominance of the selective public high schools in the HSC outcomes. So long as the students never forget their debt to public education, this augurs well for the prospects of young Australians of different ethnicities, religions, cultural backgrounds and parental incomes, moving into positions of responsibility and leadership in the professions, academic life, business, politics and society. This was one of the original objectives of the establishment of public education in Australia in the 19th Century, and specifically of the creation of the Fort Street Model School in 1849. Anything that the Union can do to promote knowledge and appreciation of the great value of public education in our state and country will be beneficial. Media in Australia sometimes has a commercial interest in promoting private and religious schools because of the advertising they offer, which public school do not. The Union should offer support and assistance to the promotion of awareness of the excellence of public education and the values that egalitarianism and democracy secure in the classrooms of Australias public schools. I was very proud to see the excellent results in 2014 in Fortians gaining 8 positions as Top of the State in the HSC results. Back in the year 1955, I was named Top of the State in the leaving certificate Modern History subject. In those days one did not receive the LC results by electronic messages or tweets. It was necessary to get a first edition of the Sydney Morning Herald, which contained the results. So, I rolled out of my bed at Sydney Street Concord at about 6 AM in December 1955 and hopped on my bike and drove through the back streets to the corner of Concord Road and Wellbank Street North Strathfield, near Kirkham’s Newsagency in the North Strathfield shopping centre. My hands were trembling as I opened a copy of the newspaper delivered to the footpath outside the darkened newsagency. I tried to look through the lists. And then I could see that I had secured a maximum pass, with 1st class honours in Modern History and Economics. I jumped on my bike and, with a joyful heart, rode back to our family home. I can remember my parents sitting up in bed, a bit bleary eyed, as I told them my results. The same thing happened a few days later when the newspaper published the list of the top hundred students in the State. This was when I found that I had been placed 1st in the State In Modern History. I have never forgotten those days, just as the Fortians and other students who have recently done so well will never forget that moment of success in 2014 that they shared with their parents who sacrificed so much for them. That is why this week is important to schools everywhere: public, religious and private. But it is especially important to public schools because they provide the high road for children most of whom come from homes without parental wealth, advantage and privilege. This is a good thing about Australia. It is the way we encourage transference of talent out of the confinements of class, religious and cultural rigidities. My discovery of my good results in Modern History in 1955 taught me to cherish my schools, my teachers and my fellow students. But they also taught me that, with hard work, dedication and application, I could achieve a lot in Australia. I am still striving to do so, 60 years later. Next Monday, 22 December 2014, the UN Security Council in New York ,about which I was taught In that Modern History class in 1955, will receive the report on human rights abuses in North Korea, prepared by the Commission of inquiry that I chaired for the UN Human Rights Council. At School, I had learned how an earlier Fortian, Doctor HV Evatt (FS 1916), past Justice of the High Court of Australia and later President of the Third General Assembly of the United Nations had played a part in the adoption of the UN Charter and of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Ever since then, I have been optimistic about the United Nations. My experience in the work on North Korea in 2014 has reaffirmed my faith in the organisation and its struggle to uphold human rights for everyone on our planet. So this is a big week for Fort Street High School. Established in 1849. Still contributing to Australia and the world. You may use any of the above in the website, blog, Facebook or other outlets and in the media to promote the values and excellence of our school and of public education in our State. I do not myself have time to use social networks. But I encourage you to do this as it is the way the younger generation get their news and information. With best wishes, Michael Kirby (FS 1955). The Hon. Michael Kirby AC CMG,
Posted on: Thu, 18 Dec 2014 08:40:04 +0000
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