Speeches
Saturday, 19 July 2025
Women in Wine 10th Birthday Gala Dinner
Rod and I are delighted to join you here at the National Wine Centre for the Australian Women in Wine 10th Birthday Gala Dinner, a milestone worthy of enthusiastic celebration.
Collectively you encourage, you mentor, you advocate, you challenge what is and transform it into what should be.
It’s not easy, it is not straight forward, but tonight shows how far you have come.
Encouraging leadership and gender equality are two of the six personal priorities I set for my term as Governor.
Wine is a such a big part of South Australia’s – and indeed Australia’s - identity and our history.
And, in a very modest way, it has been part of mine.
So, I think you can understand why I wanted to be with you this evening but let me explain a little.
In 1983, I used the soft-cover edition of Hugh Johnson’s Wine book as a travel guide while backpacking around Europe with my sister. It worked surprisingly well and I can still remember trekking across the sand in Sanlucar de Barrameda to find a particular seaside bar which served the local Manzanilla sherry.
In 1984, I was all set to study wine making at Roseworthy the following year, before accepting, instead, an offer to join the Department of Foreign Affairs’ graduate program.
But while the focus of my professional life shifted, my appreciation for and love of wine has never diminished.
Nor has my appreciation for those whose work contributes to its creation and distribution. People like you, the women – and men – in this room.
First as a diplomat and now as Governor, I have sought to promote Australian and South Australian wine.
In fact, my most bulky possession on moving to Canberra at the age of 23 was two dozen tasting glasses and my wine collection – only five cases, but including a prized bottle of Grange Hermitage which I had purchased for $14.99 at East End Cellars with tips from waitressing at the Cork and Cleaver one particularly lucrative lunchtime.
In 1989, as vice-consul, I held an Australian wine tasting in my apartment in Hong Kong – while of course barbecuing on the balcony. As Rod, then my fiancé, has always said, you don’t marry an Australian and expect to do the barbecuing yourself.
On postings in London – where I became a huge admirer of Jancis Robinson’s wine columns – and as Australia’s ambassador to China, where I welcomed Australia’s first families of wine, I could see that the quality of our wine served our national interest time and time again.
At Government House we have an enviable cellar of South Australian wine – not only because we are professionally required to be parochial - but because our wine – your wine - is simply outstanding by any measure.
We’ve been delighted to serve the Hear Me Roar Shiraz, a collaboration between Sue Hodder, Emma Norbiato, Corrina Wright and Bec Richardson to raise money for women in wine.
And Hear me Roar is appropriate for what Australian Women in Wine is doing – elevating women’s voices and providing a focus for advancement, which I strongly support.
This evening, I am proud to be wearing a brooch crafted in the 1860s in Adelaide by Charles Firnhaber, a local jeweller of German origin.
It is made of Malachite from Burra, encircled by a grapevine made from Barossa Valley gold.
I acknowledge the generosity of the South Australian Museum in recognising the importance of this evening’s gathering and agreeing to lend me this beautiful and valuable item from the museum’s collection.
It’s a bit of a stretch, but I’d like to think it’s the kind of occasion Charles Firnhaber had in mind when he crafted it all those years ago.
I thank the current and past advisory board of Australian Women in Wine and congratulate you on the move to become an official not-for-profit company.
The strength of any organisation rests with its leadership and active membership. Everyone has a part to play.
Because change takes tenacity, commitment, team spirit and continued encouragement from the many allies here tonight.
Rod and I wish Australian Women in Wine a happy 10th birthday. We hope you all have a wonderful night of excellent conversation, food, and of course wine, and when you wake up tomorrow morning, you feel inspired to continue your quest. There is, as you say, still much to be done.