Prime Minister Julia Gillard joined us in congratulating three young indigenous scholars who are going off to study at Oxford and Cambridge. I took them over to Parliament for tea with the PM, after hosting an uplifting scholarship ceremony at my Residence.
The British Government is a key partner in the Charlie Perkins indigenous scholarships, through our Chevening programme, alongside the Australian Government and Rio Tinto.
Together with Minister for Tertiary Education, Senator Chris Evans (himself a former Chevening Scholar at the London School of Economics), I was delighted to present scholarships to: Lilly Brown (to study for an M.Phil in Politics, Development and Democratic Education at Cambridge); Krystal Lockwood (MSc in Evidence Based Social Intervention at Oxford); and Kyle Turner (DPhil Public Health, Oxford).
Lilly will be the first indigenous Australian ever to study at Cambridge. All three were outstanding candidates, both academically and in their wider activities. I really enjoyed chatting to them. They will surely become leaders in their fields in Australia in the years ahead.
The scholarships are named after Charlie Perkins, the distinguished indigenous leader, who became a senior government official here. He was also an outstanding athlete who, whilst living in the UK in the late 1950s, playing football (soccer) for Bishop Auckland, determined that he would strive to go to University on his return to Australia.
Seeing the pride on the faces of the scholars’ family and friends was a heart warming experience. These scholarships will have a wider impact. They send a signal to other young people, particularly from indigenous communities, that there should be no limit on their aspirations.
They should aim to go as far as their talents and energies take them. The British government is so committed to the programme that I was able to announce we are doubling our contribution to £150,000 over the next three years.
View our Flickr gallery of the event.