Saturday, 25 October 2025
Government House
Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC KC

Thank you, Ashleigh.[1]

Bujari gamarruwa

Diyn Babana Gamarada Gadigal Ngura

In the language of the Gadigal, Traditional Owners of these lands and nearby waterways, to whose Elders I pay my respects, Dennis and I welcome the Chief Commissioner, State Commissioner, Guides, Families and Special Guests - to Government House today.

Simply: Wow! Today is rightly a day of great pride. Each of the diverse achievements we have heard about reflects commitment, courage, and a significant contribution to our community. Again, congratulations!

After listening to these citations, I have a sense of someone looking after both shoulders … I can almost hear the loud and proud applause of the two women who were instrumental in establishing Girl Guides here, where it all formally started in NSW, at Government House, in 1920.

Those two women – one older and one younger – were:

- Dame Margaret Davidson, wife of the then-Governor Sir Walter Davidson, who had accepted a letter request from Lady Baden Powell[2], wife of Lord Baden-Powell, founder of the Scouts movement, to become first State Commissioner of a new Australian Girl Guides.[3]

- The other, was Nella Levy, a 23-year-old dynamo who, by all accounts, lived up to her nickname of “The Lev”. Nella had boarded in England as a young girl and had attended Baden Powell’s 1909 Crystal Palace Scouts rally, along with a small contingent of other girls who had identified with the Scout movement.

When back in NSW, Nella had written to a local newspaper strongly rebutting a published article that an organisation especially for girls was unnecessary, as they already had outdoor opportunities. Her response attracted the attention of Dame Margaret Davidson who recognised a young woman with plenty of ‘go’ when she saw one. Dame Margaret invited Nella to Government House for tea, at which she said to Nella: “Queen Mary (the wife of King George V) would like to see Girl Guides in New South Wales, and I want you to start it.”[4]

There was much that was left unsaid … In NSW at that time, many girls left school when they were 12 or 13 – especially girls from larger families and rural communities.[5] Where secondary schools existed, the completion by girls of their education – let alone technical, further or higher education – was low.

The first two women had graduated in Arts from the University of Sydney in 1885 and the first two female medical students in 1893.[6]. In 1902, women gained the right to vote in NSW through the Women’s Franchise Act[7] and the first woman graduated in law.[8] It would not be until 1918, and the end of the First World War, that women were granted the right to practise law or run for parliament in NSW.[9] 

The First World War was a catalyst for political, social and economic change. Women had served as nurses, doctors, in the medical corps and as correspondents on the battlefields.[10] As a result of men being away at war, at home, they performed many of the traditional roles performed by men, including postal worker, railway guard, police officer, firefighter, working in munitions factories and in farming.[11] 

It was in this context that Dame Margaret Davidson convened a meeting here at Government House in June 1921, also attended by Millicent Preston Stanley who would later become the first woman elected to the NSW Parliament. In Dame Margaret’s words: Young women were to “work together [without class distinction] in a spirit of [friendship and] comradeship”, to receive training that would not only “further good citizenship” and benefit the community but also empower Girl Guides to “find work to do in every sphere of life.”[12] 

By September, 26 young women, all trained by Nella Levy – the ‘Lev’, were being enrolled here in a ceremony in this very room as the first commissioned officers of Girl Guides NSW.[13] 

Part of that training would include, as described by Nella Levy, “first aid, campfire drill, tenderfoot studies, tracking, nature study, sewing, nursing, infant welfare - as well as, notably, “electricians’ work and carpentry.”[14] 

Today, as members of Generation Z and Generation Alpha, your training may look and be delivered a little differently. The outdoor components – camps, sleepouts and practical skills continue to play a strong part, but you are the first generations of Guides to complete the requirements of your awards in the digital and AI eras. On that note, I congratulate Girl Guides NSW ACT NT for being awarded the 2025 ASI Great Things Award for Transformation in Education.[15] 

What has remained constant over a century and several generations of Guiding’s youth leadership are the core values which inform Guide Law. Each of you has exemplified those values without peer – you have set and achieved goals, navigated your studies as well as challenges and setbacks, and supported your peers. You have made a positive impact as “good citizens” in your community service while also leading and mentoring others. 

The spirit of capable, confident and creative young women is all around us here at Government House. Congratulations!