EXTRACT FROM A SPEECH GIVEN BY HER EXCELLENCY PROFESSOR MARIE BASHIR AC GOVERNOR OF NSW on the occasion of the 90th Birthday lunch of the Music Teachers' Association of NSW, Parliament House, 11th October 2002.

"When I contemplate the amount of pleasure - indeed joy - which you, the current music teachers of NSW and your predecessors have been responsible for, since the early days of colonial settlement to the present day, I stand in awe and in gratitude. This is a very personal, as well as an official acknowledgment of your contribution to the quality of life in our society and to the standards we have come to take so much for granted in its musical life. I would be difficult indeed for me to be able to express adequately my sense of gratitude to the many music teachers who have influenced my own life so deeply.

My life would be intolerable without music, and I think about music almost every day. I was blessed to grow up in a family who loved music and so I was despatched to formal lessons in piano, violin and theory from the age of about six. The piano lessons were to accelerate a speedier knowledge of the notes and the lessons took place whether I was in my home town of Narrandera or staying at my grandparents' house in Sydney with my family for extended holidays. On commencing high school in the city, I readily continued my violin lessons at the Conservatorium of Music, after school most week days and all day Saturday - theory, history of music, harmony and counterpoint, chamber music and orchestra. They were glorious times with many of the young people, such as Charles Mackerras, going on to illustrious careers later.

As medical studies became more demanding, especially in the clinical years, it became impossible to maintain the range of commitments. However, strong foundations for an immensely rich life as a concert goer and opera lover were built. In recent years, one can modestly join in with musical grandchildren when a moment permits. Music has brought untold joy into my life, both emotionally and intellectually. It has also been the source of wonderful friendships at home and abroad, friendships bound by a shared passion of an art which illuminates all facets of life's experiences and sustains one in times of despair as well as elation.