Her Excellency Ms Quentin Bryce AC

BA. LLB (Qld). Hon LLD (Macquarie). Hon DLitt (Charles Sturt).   Hon DUniv (Griffith). Hon DU (QUT). Hon LLD (Qld). Hon DUniv (JCU). Doctor of Laws (honoris causa) (Syd).

Quentin Bryce was born in Brisbane in 1942 and spent her early years in Ilfracombe, a small town in Central Western Queensland. In 1965, she graduated with the degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws from The University of Queensland and, in the same year, was admitted to the Queensland Bar. She has since enjoyed a rich and distinguished career as an academic, lawyer, community and human rights advocate, senior public officer, university college principal, and vice-regal representative in Queensland, and now Australia.

Quentin Bryce’s contribution to advancing human rights and equality, the rights of women and children, and the welfare of the family was recognised in her appointment as an Officer of the Order of Australia in 1988 and a Companion of the Order of Australia in 2003.

On 5 September 2008 Quentin Bryce was sworn in as Australia’s twenty-fifth Governor-General. As the first woman to take up the office, she remains a pioneer in contemporary Australian society, and yet one who brings more than forty years of experience in reform, community building and leadership to the role.

GROW is incredibly fortunate to have Her Excellency Ms Quentin Bryce AC, Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia as our national patron.