Farm World 2015 @ Lardner Park near Warragul, VIC

Dame Quentin Bryce the former Governor-General of Australia, giving a speech at a Women in Focus luncheon that Brett and I attended. It was an exceptional talk about her affinity with rural Australia, her upbringing in the rural outback town of Ilfracombe in Queensland, and she also lived in a number of country towns around Australia. She attended the University of Queensland, where she completed a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Laws, becoming one of the first women accepted to the Queensland Bar. In 1968, Bryce became the first woman appointed as a faculty member of the law school where she had studied, and in 1978 she was appointed by the then Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser to the new National Women’s Advisory Council. This Council made ground-breaking recommendations on gender equality in Australian society. She also talked about how proud she was to swear in Australia’s first female Prime Minister, Julia Gillard. Many in the audience during question time stood and stated that she was the woman they most looked up to. She had many stories about her travels as GG in going around Australia talking to people affected by floods, fire and drought – simply outstanding!