Speeches
Friday, 02 October 2026
Augusta Zadow Awards Reception 2026
Rod and I are delighted to welcome you to Government House for the 2026 Augusta Zadow Awards, an important component of National Safe Work Month.
This reception has special resonance for me. These awards were among the first functions I hosted, just over a week after my swearing-in in 2021.
And today I am hosting my sixth ceremony, just under a week before my term concludes.
So, I feel it is especially fitting that you are here again, to mark the 21st anniversary of these awards.
Twenty-first anniversaries are of course traditional markers of coming of age, but I think the August Zadow awards passed that mark some time ago.
For 21 years, the awards have shone a light on the important work being done to build safer, healthier and more inclusive workplaces.
The grants awarded have supported practical initiatives that have made a difference to women and young people across our workplaces.
It is not just these awards that honour the legacy of Augusta Zadow: it is the work of the award winners and their organisations that do so, in the most meaningful and tangible way.
Born in Germany, a tailor and political refugee in London, Augusta Zadow emigrated to South Australia with her husband Christian and young son in 1877.
She was a major contributor to the establishment of the Working Women’s Trades Union in 1890, a delegate to the United Trades and Labour Council of South Australia, and an outspoken supporter of Women’s Suffrage.
She was a woman ahead of her time. She fought for the health, safety and rights of women and young girls – protections we can too easily take for granted today.
She inspected the working conditions of 400 factories but died suddenly within 16 months of being appointed factory inspector possibly from a work-related illness.
She was held in such high esteem that her resting place in West Terrace Cemetery was built with 1,000 threepenny subscriptions from factor workers.
The inscription on her gravestone reads: Self denying efforts on behalf of the struggling and oppressed. - words that still resonate.
Times have moved on and gains have been made, but there are still gains to be won, and the spirit of Augusta’s advocacy lives on and speaks to us today.
We see that through the projects that have been recognised through these awards: on bullying and harassment; on raising awareness of hazardous substances on fertility; management of aggression and violence in clinical settings; or building the psychological flexibility of farmers.
These issues may be different to those Augusta confronted, but the purpose is not: identifying risks, speaking up about them, and finding practical ways to make workplaces safer and better.
I congratulate all the award applicants and winners for identifying practical workplace challenges and developing initiatives that have the potential to make a meaningful difference to workers.
In that way, good ideas become safer workplaces for the next generation.
I thank the staff of SafeWork SA for co-ordinating these awards and promoting them in the community.
I also thank the judging panel for undertaking the exacting task of assessing the applications.
To the winners, congratulations. Augusta Zadow’s legacy reminds us that improving workplaces is an on-going effort.
There will always be new challenges to identify, new ideas to pursue and new ways to make our workplaces better.
Thank you for being part of that effort and carrying the legacy forward.