#marie bashir

[ifreakingloveroyals]

24 October 2013 | The Governor of NSW, Professor Marie Bashir, and her husband Nicholas Shehadie pose with Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary of Denmark as they arrive at Government House in Sydney, Australia. Prince Frederik and Princess Mary will visit Sydney for five days and will attend events to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Sydney Opera House and the Danish architect who designed the landmark, Jorn Utzen. (c) David Gray - Pool /Getty Images

[ifreakingloveroyals]

21 November 2011 | Sir Nicholas Shehadie, The Governor of NSW Marie Bashir, Prince Frederik of Denmark and Princess Mary of Denmark pose at Government House during their visit to Australia in Sydney, Australia. Princess Mary and Prince Frederik are on their first official visit to Australia since 2008. The Royal visit begins in Sydney, before heading to Melbourne, Canberra and Broken Hill. (c) Brendon Thorne/Getty Images

[ifreakingloveroyals]

16 April 2014 | Britain's Prince William and his wife Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, are pictured in front of the Sydney Harbour Bridge during a reception at the Sydney Opera House as New South Wales Governor Marie Bashir and Nicholas Shehadie look on. William, his wife Kate and their son Prince George are on a three-week tour of New Zealand and Australia. (c) JASON REED/AFP/Getty Images

[ifreakingloveroyals]

Through the Years → Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands (172/∞)

27 October 2006 | His Royal Highness The Prince of Orange and Her Royal Highness Princess Maxima of The Netherlands attend a concert with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Jaap van Zweden, to celebrate 400 years of Dutch-Australian relations at Sydney Opera House on the fifth day of their 13 day tour of Australia and New Zealand, in Sydney, Australia. The Royal couple are due to tour Canberra, Sydney, the Northern Territory and Tasmania during the visit, which marks 400 years since the first recorded Europeans arrived in Australia on board a Dutch ship in 1606. (Photo by Patrick Riviere/Getty Images)

[ifreakingloveroyals]

24 October 2013 | The Governor of NSW, Professor Marie Bashir walks through the gardens of Government House alongside Crown Prince Frederik, Crown Princess Mary of Denmark in Sydney, Australia. (C) Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

[katiejay]

On the weekend I filmed the Land Water Future International Women's Day event including the keynote by former Governor of NSW Professor the Hon. Dame Marie Bashir. There is a story in the Sydney Morning Herald today featuring Dame Marie's remarks.

Former NSW governor Marie Bashir says the destruction of Australian farmland for mining is a "crisis" that must stop, adding: "I have never been so emphatic or political in my life."

It is the first time Dame Marie has spoken out against mining after 13 years in the traditionally non-political role of NSW governor.

Read the story in full here.

[bighearts]

Marie Bashir & Australian pride

On Friday, I had the privilege to sit in the audience of our NSW Governor Marie Bashir at Government House, which is a magnificent building in the Botanical Gardens I didn't know existed. She began her address to our group of high school students in leadership positions with a brief history of Australia, drawing inspiration from leaders of the past like Winston Churchill and Sir Henry Parkes.

What struck me though was her immense pride of Australia and our history, which is uncommon in our comparatively self-deprecating national culture. She would ask us what the most important moment in Australian history was, or if we knew what Parkes famously said, and be greeted with overwhelming silence (though admittedly that may have been partly due to awe)

The way she spoke about how our nation was founded without civil war (though interestingly not mentioning the plight of indigenous Australians since colonisation) and how we never provoke conflict on the world stage, would present as well-preserved naivety in different hands. However, she didn't fail to touch upon her concerns about both Australian and broader society - homelessness, juvenile detention, and climate change fuelling a malaria epidemic to name a few.

Above all, she had a sense of unflagging hope for the future, an idealism which she self-conciously went on to justify it along these lines; "I know it's an ideal, but what's wrong with aiming for an ideal world? If we can't do that here, in such a rich nation, then where?"

I realise this may seem like an ass-kissing exercise written by some ardent, old-fashioned monarchist (what of it), but I think Her Excellency Professor Marie Bashir AC, CVO embodies a functional idealism and dignified Australian pride that is lacking but could be of great benefit to our society.

Take Chris Lilley for example. His highly successful 'mockumentaries' depict a "heightened reality" (via) that captures the subtleties of Australian characters. When approached by American producers, citizens of a country characterised by a sense of exceptionalism, he refused. I'm going to choose to interpret this as a triumphant example of a unique Australian pride veiled by self-depracating satire.

So next time you cringe at the prospect of mandatory history class (we've all been there), I challenge you to consider The Female Eunuch and Pauline Hanson as a product of healthy democracy like no other. We are, after all, just a fair dinkum lot.