Australian law recognises that Christianity, Islam and Judaism worship the same God Survey shows Australian

Petzl

That will come as a great surprise to Sir Isaac Isaacs, you bumbling cretin! B^D

"Sir Isaac Isaacs (1855-1948) Isaac Isaacs was born in Melbourne, Victoria. He was the first Australian-born governor-general. He was an excellent lawyer, a judge, a Member of Parliament in Victoria and a very clever speaker.

Isaacs worked towards the joining together (federation) of the Australian states and was elected to the Commonwealth Parliament. He wrote laws for the state and Commonwealth governments and he was made a judge of the High Court in 1906. In 1930, he became the chief judge of the High Court and in 1931, governor-general. Many people did not like the appointment of an Australian as governor-general. They said it was against tradition. The King did not want an Australian either, but eventually agreed to it. Isaacs was governor-general until 1936. He was knighted (made a 'Sir') by the king.

A painting of Sir Isaac Isaacs hangs in Parliament House, Canberra. A suburb of Canberra is named after him and his face is on a stamp. "

You could do with a basic course in Civics and Citizenship, Putzl! B^D

Petzl, you are a certified f***WIT, you have not a shred of credibility left and you are giving Mosley a run for his money as Net Kook of the Year in perpetuity!

Give it up and go do something more suited to your severely limited capacities... licking toilet bowls clean, or being worn by H-Division criminals as a willy warmer.

People of Distinction are honoured WITHOUT REGARD to their religion, ethnicity, gender, or hat size;

ADDRESS BY HIS EXCELLENCY MAJOR GENERAL MICHAEL JEFFERY AC CVO MC

GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA

ON THE OCCASION OF

OPENING OF THE SIR ISAAC ISAACS EXHIBITION

MELBOURNE, VIC 20 MARCH 2005

Life Governors, Co-chairmen and Patrons of the Melbourne Hebrew Congregation Rabbi Rubinfeld, Chief Minister The Honourable Peter Costello, Federal Treasurer Sir Zelman and Lady Cowen Members of State and Federal Parliaments Distinguished guests Ladies and gentlemen

Thank you for your warm welcome to Marlena and me today.

What a special occasion this is - marking the 75th anniversary of your magnificent synagogue. And such a beautiful building, architecturally, that one cannot help but be drawn to it as a focal point of Jewish religious and family experience in Melbourne.

I am delighted to know that Sir Isaac Isaacs' great grandson, Mr Tim Cohen, his wife Barbara, and their children, Anna and Jessica, are here today to share in this special occasion.

Ladies and gentlemen.

Why an exhibition for Sir Isaac Isaacs? Why do we honour the memory of a former Governor-General, removed in time by almost 70 years since holding that high office.

Exhibitions are a little like neon signs, alerting us to the importance of a subject, focussing our gaze and minds on individuals and events that have created history and thus helped shape a nation.

Memories can be very poignant.

They have the power to evoke strong feelings and emotions, especially when celebrating a distinguished life of service.

This exhibition transcends time and space to create a bond between subject and viewer, and I hope because of its importance the collection may be placed on permanent display.

Because to retain the essential knowledge about our nation's history and development, it is so important to record stories of human endeavour, that often encompbutt supreme service, frequent hardship, honesty, determination, and insight.

Ladies and gentlemen.

Your congregation had the pleasure of hosting a visit by His Excellency Moshe Katsav, the President of the State of Israel and Mrs Katsav during their State Visit to Australia just two weeks ago.

Marlena and I welcomed them both to Government House for a State Dinner on behalf of the Australian community, and I spoke then of the Jewish Diaspora, with its origins in the fall of Jerusalem and the Babylonian exile more than 2,500 years ago.

The lamentations by the waters of Babylon, 'How could we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land?', have echoed through centuries of Jewish migration, to communities in China, India, Ethiopia, throughout Western Europe, later to the Americas, and ultimately here, in 1788, the year of the first European settlement in Australia.

And yet, as we know, unchosen emigration faced by the people of many nations through the history of mankind, has not just been a chronicle of dispersal and grief; it has also been an extraordinary account of contribution and adaptation.

And it is within this context that we honour Sir Isaac Isaacs.

He was born in Elizabeth Street, Melbourne on 6 August 1855, the first child of Alfred and Rebecca Isaacs. Alfred was born in Russian Poland, and had learned the tailor's trade. During the 1840s, with few financial resources, he made his way westward across Europe and settled in London, where he later married.

As my esteemed predecessor, Sir Zelman Cowen, recounts in his Isaacs' biography, Alfred and Rebecca Isaacs migrated to Australia in 1854, and their ship, the "Queen of the East", arrived at Sandridge, the port of Melbourne, in September.

The city, crowded to a point of acute discomfort as a result of the vast migration which followed the discovery of gold, must have presented a daunting but exciting spectacle to impecunious migrants from Europe.

A contemporary account tells that:

"house accommodation was totally inadequate to meet the demand for shelter from the thousands who were pouring daily into the Colony...tents had been put up by many on the vacant ground round the city; but the increase of numbers rendered it necessary to appoint some spot for the express purpose of accommodating those who had no other means of getting shelter.

The cooking fires outside the tents were in full operation at midday, preparing the principal meal, and active hands were to be seen busily employed in this very necessary operation." And so this 'canvas town' became the Isaacs' first home in a foreign land.

Who could have imagined then that Alfred and Rebecca's first child, Isaac, born just under twelve months after this most ordinary and humble of arrivals in Australia, would rise to become one of Australia's great lawyers, a Member of the Victorian Legislative buttembly, a contributor to the federal convention on the drafting of Australia's Consbreastution, a Member of our first Federal Parliament, Chief Justice of the High Court, and the first Australian-born Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia.

A wonderful example of that little acorn growing into a giant oak!

Ladies and gentlemen.

Isaac Isaacs took the oaths of office as Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia on 22 January 1931. The oaths were administered in the Legislative Council Chamber in Melbourne, by Sir Frank Gavan Duff who was, that day, appointed Chief Justice of the High Court in succession to Isaacs.

Earlier in 1930, the Labor Prime Minister, James Scullin, had appointed Isaacs, who was then 75, as Chief Justice. Shortly afterward, Scullin decided to appoint an Australian as Governor-General, amid protests from the Nationalist Opposition and the conservative press.

Scullin had to travel to London to personally advise King George V to make the appointment of Isaac Isaacs, which the King reluctantly agreed to - reluctance, it was claimed, because Isaacs was a 'local man' (an Australian).

Isaacs was also elderly, and personally unknown to the King.

Isaacs's term of office came during a period engulfed by the Great Depression.

Attuned to the community, Isaacs as Governor-General proposed a voluntary reduction in his salary, and conducted the office with great frugality.

He gave up his official residences in Sydney and Melbourne and with it went much of the official entertaining of the past.

Sir Isaac was the first Governor-General to live permanently at Government House, Canberra.

This was well received with the public, as was Sir Isaac's image of 'rather austere dignity'.

Sir Zelman Cowen notes that Sir Isaac was keenly interested in the development of Canberra, then still something of a country outpost, and particularly in the early growth of Canberra University College which later was incorporated into the Australian National University.

The Governor-General travelled widely throughout Australia and appears to have enjoyed it, despite the discomfort and strain which it must have imposed on an elderly man.

As Sir Zelman notes, in May 1934, in a letter from Sydney to his daughter Marjorie:

"We have had a busy time since I wrote. We left Canberra at 9.38am, Wednesday, arrived Goulburn at 12.28. Received the Church Representatives in the train, went immediately after lunch in train, then went in car to see Church of England Children's Home, then to Community House, then to other sights - then 'home' to railway car. Then dined in train, dressed for Ball and stayed till 11. Back to car and at 6.18am the car jerked off for Sydney, arriving 10.10am. Received officers and held Executive Council, did official correspondence and dined at Clubs and off to St Vincent's Ball. Home at 12 (midnight). Yesterday invesbreasture.

Clearly his age was no impediment to great enthusiasm, and Sir Isaac discharged the ceremonial and community duties of his office with style, skill and dedication.

According to historian Christopher Cunneen, Sir Isaac appeared to find no difficulties in the incessant speech making, and keeping firmly to his view that in maintaining the impartiality of the Crown, reference to politics must be avoided at all times.

The "Argus" newspaper reported that 'Sir Isaac Isaacs steps warily at all public gatherings' and was 'one of the most guarded speakers Sydney had known'.

In a typical speech in May 1931 to the Millions Club in Sydney on the problems facing Australia, he pledged 'whatever is in my power or duty to do I shall be happy to do. But remember I neither think nor act politically. It is not my job and I have to keep clear of these things.'

According to the "Canberra Times" he had a 'ringing inspiring voice' that with 'dignified precision never failed to find the sincere and apt word - the sculptured phrase - that made every utterance of the little white-haired man a very jewel.'

Ladies and gentlemen.

Sir Isaac brought his great intellect and knowledge to bear on his consbreastutional duties, although, during his term of office, no extraordinary or difficult consbreastutional issues arose.

Nevertheless, there were several special cases, which gave his legally trained mind the opportunity to explore in detail and to explain his decisions and actions in elaborate memoranda.

For example, in mid-1931, regulations concerning the Transport Workers Act, gave members of the Waterside Workers Federation preference in employment in certain ports. The regulations were seemingly an attempt to reverse the policy towards the Federation pursued by Bruce's Nationalist administration.

Regulations, disallowed by the Senate controlled by anti-Labor parties, were re-issued by the government after the Upper House adjourned.

The Senate pebreastioned the governor-general to refuse to approve such regulations as had already been disallowed during the current session.

In a length reply Isaacs declined, arguing after careful consideration of the legal issues, that his duty was to follow the advice of his ministers.

Both contemporary opinion and later buttessment by consbreastutional experts found Isaccs' refusal sound.

In November 1931, the Scullin Government was defeated in the House of Representatives on a motion that the Prime Minister interpreted as a motion of no confidence.

Scullin's written request to Isaacs that the Parliament be dissolved, twelve months prematurely, was brief, setting out no reasons but merely noting that, the Appropriation Bill having been pbutted, finance was available for public services.

Isaacs' reply was again a lengthy one. He butterted that only in extreme or exceptional cases should ministers' advice to dissolve be declined.

In the resulting election the United Australia Party was swept into office. The party which had so strongly opposed Isaacs' appointment was now in office and there was some popular speculation that this would pose difficulties for the Governor-General.

However, Isaacs meticulous approach to his duties, and in particular his scrupulous avoidance of political comment as Governor-General guaranteed a steady course.

Sir Isaac must have watched with more than pbutting interest the actions of New South Wales Governor, Sir Philip Game who dismissed Premier Lang and called a general election in 1932 - the first of only two occasions in which the reserve powers of a Governor in the first instance and a Governor-General in the second, were invoked.

Ladies and gentlemen.

Australians have largely shied away from public displays of recognition of those who have conspicuously served the nation. Rarely these days - with perhaps the exception of statues honouring Sir Weary Dunlop, do we see grand monuments or buildings erected in memory of distinguished citizens.

Occasionally famous faces may appear on postage stamps, in street and place names, or in commemorative events and Sir Isaac Isaacs is a case in point.

For whilst most Australians recall the name of Sir Isaac as a leading citizen, yet his contribution as the first Australian born Governor-General, is rather ordinarily remembered - in a couple of portraits, in the name of a Canberra suburb and a Federal electorate in outer metropolitan Melbourne.

Thus I am delighted to see this exhibition of Isaacs' memorabilia.

It elevates both his memory and records his sterling contribution to Australian public life.

Sir Isaac proved himself a man of substance and enormous integrity; virtues he made enduring through his physical stamina and wellbeing.

Even in old age he lost none of his mental adroitness, and his participation in community life to the end, continued to impress and inspire.

Sir Isaac Isaacs set a rhythm of life and an example of engaging with the Australian community as the benchmark for those who followed in his footsteps.

This was not his goal, but unquestionably it is his legacy.

I commend the members of Melbourne's Hebrew Congregation for establishing this fine exhibition. It is a splendid snapshot of key elements of Sir Isaac's life; particularly poignant is the photograph of Isaac's parents, Alfred and Rebecca. In our shrinking world, with its obsession on celebrity, and a skewed emphasis on the material, there is a special delight in viewing a collection of items which depict the life and times of a good and very great man.

Ladies and gentlemen.

It is now my great privilege to declare the Isaac Isaac's exhibition officially open.

Thank you.

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The Official Est. June 2000 aus.culture.true-blue FAQ ;

The true-blue Homestead;

The true-blue Hall Of Fame;

The Tuckerbox;

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