Chancellor, The Honourable Sir Llew Edwards,
Vice-Chancellor, Professor John Hay,
Members of the Senate of The University of Queensland,
Members of the academic staff,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Firstly, my thanks to the University Senate for acknowledging me in this remarkable way.
And graduates, congratulations.
At long last you’ve got your degrees.
Some of you may have read that I’m a very private, even reclusive person.
But today, I am proud to be out in the open to be standing here before you to be sharing with you what must be the most memorable day of your lives.
It’s funny how myths grow around a person who seldom talks to the media.
For example, I can recall a long time ago my wife getting into a taxi to go to Grundy House and the cab driver saying “You know Reg Grundy’s been dead for years,” and my wife replying appropriately enough, “Well he was very much alive when he got out of bed this morning”.
So don’t believe everything you hear.
Long ago, when I lost all my television shows down south, I came to Brisbane to start again, found a girl for a panel show called I’ve Got a Secret, married her and that partnership has been running for over 30 years.
Joy Chambers — the girl from Ipswich.
Winston Churchill, when asked what his most brilliant achievement was, said “Persuading my wife to marry me”. And I guess I would have to go along with that.
So there I was travelling up to Mount Coot-tha making television shows that Queensland people seemed to like.
It was all as good as it gets.
And so I have many happy memories of those days and much to thank Queensland for.
Yes, this is a very important day for you graduates and for your relatives and friends who have supported you and the academics who have helped you on your way.
A day for you to celebrate the result of all the work that you have done over the years. And an honour for me to receive a degree without the paperwork.
So let’s talk about us, we brand new graduates.
We are certainly enjoying this wonderful day together but what else do we have in common?
Well, I fancy not much.
Certainly not age! The difference between my age and your age is the lifespan of some people.
Certainly not in formal education, you have just completed your work for a degree and I left school at 15.
And not because I’m used to the environment of a university. This is one of the few times I’ve been on campus, and for you it’s a place where you have slogged and slogged over the years.
And the biggest difference of all is in EXPERIENCE.
You simply have not had time to accumulate very much of this precious commodity. Experience is something you can look forward to. For me, experience is something I can look back on.
And from my 57 years OF experience in the media, this dinosaur may be able to say something that will help as some of you sit here with feelings of elation mixed with anxiety thinking... “What are the chances of me really making something of my life?” What should I really do?”
So, if I may, let me say something about my life that just may help you with yours.
When I started in radio in 1947, I had no money in the bank (I’m sure many of you know the feeling!). I was receiving 7.10 pounds a week, $15, and I was working hard trying to make my mark.
Things were very different then.
There were no ways to record sound outside of the studio so we were very excited when later in that year the Pyrox wire recorder came along. It was supposed to be portable but weighed a ton, and we actually recorded on spools of wire. And if the wire broke, as it often did, the only way to do an edit was to unravel the wire with a pair of pliers, and join the ends together in a knot.
Contrast that with the facilities available to us today.
In 1947, there was no television, black and white or colour.
Talk-back radio was illegal.
There were no personal computers! How do you get through life without a computer?
Although, I guess Shakespeare did OK with nothing more than a feather.
And in 1947, we pioneers were feeling our way... doing the best we could with “nothing more than a feather” and having a marvellous time.
When television arrived in the 1950s, I got my break in the new medium and as you have heard today, eventually came up with a concept which I called “Parochial Internationalism” — be local to be global. After a lifetime of effort, I finished up with television production companies in 18 countries of the world, often making shows in languages I could not speak, in fact most of the time.
So what were the reasons for my good fortune?
Well, I found the path I wanted to follow. I travelled along it with all the vigour and enthusiasm I could muster.
So, remember and I really mean this, if you want something, chances are you can have it.
There’s not much that is impossible if you have the desire and the will to reach your goal.
Some of you may want to be a bit entrepreneurial and strike out and live a little dangerously.
And if you can come up with an idea, an approach, a new way of doing something, then there’s no limit to how far you can go.
So whatever your dream, give it all you’ve got.
You can be sure that the noted Alumni of this University persevered to reach the summits of their chosen careers.
They started with a vision and put all of their enthusiasm and commitment into reaching the top of their professions.
The philosopher Karl Popper wrote: “The growth of our knowledge may be described as consisting of corrections and modifications of previous knowledge.”
In short, he was saying we learn from our mistakes and replace them with something better.
So, live your lives to the full, make mistakes, learn from those mistakes, be committed, be passionate.
And the most important thing of all.
Be prepared to fail. Pick yourself up, try again and go on. That is the way to success.
Follow this path and you will have earned the right for good fortune to be your companion.
Good luck to each and every one of you.
