Sir William Deane, ‘It is still winter at home’ 
On the occasion of an ecumenical service for the victims 
of the canyoning tragedy  5 August 1999

Contextual Information.
Read and view the following articles about the accident as well as Deane.  How does this information inform you about his context?
Speaker:
  • Born in Melbourne in 1931.
  • Had a Catholic background and trained as a lawyer
  • Attended St Joseph's College in Hunters Hill and studied Law and Arts at Sydney University
  • Appointed a High Court Judge in 1982
  • Favoured the rights of individuals over governments and sat in judgement over significant cases such as the 1983 Franklin River case and the 1992 Mabo case
  • He retired from the High court in November 1995 
  • Appointed as Governor-General by the Prime Minister, Paul Keating on 16 February 1996.
  • As Governor-Generalhe spoke out on his desire to see meaningful reconciliation between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians.
  • He was a strong advocate of a multicultural Australia and a staunch opponent of racist attitudes.
  • He was an extremely popular Governor-General with polls leading up to the 1999 republic referendum showing that he was the first choice of most Australians to be the country's first president.
  • Sir William retired from the office of Governor-General on 29 June 2001.
Audience:
  • Speech delivered in Switzerland
  • Predominantly and Australian / Swiss audience
Context:
  • On 31 July 1999, a flash flood burst through the Saxeten River near the Swiss Alpine resort of Interlaken. It killed 21 people, including 14 Australians.
  • A memorial service as held on 5 August 1999 at Interlaken in Switzerland.
Ideas:
Patriotism

Common techniques used:
Deane Context.docx
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