Speech

ADDRESS BY

HER EXCELLENCY MS QUENTIN BRYCE AC

GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA

ON THE OCCASION OF

OFFICIAL OPENING OF GOOGLE’S SYDNEY OFFICES

1 JUNE 2009

Thank you for your warm welcome.

I want you to know how delighted I am to be here in Sydney on a gorgeous Winter day for this exhilarating occasion in the life of Google Australia – the opening of your new home and headquarters.

What a fabulous,  exciting design!   So colourful and uplifting –  at the heart of this vibrant,  much loved city.

New spaces always represent change,  innovation,  freshness – but for Google,  these are part of your being;  synonymous with your brand.

You stand for the contemporary,  the new,  and the coming.    In your services and products,  and,  uniquely,  in your corporate culture,  you deliver inspiring approaches to work,  life and living. 

Google Earth and Google Maps help us find our place in the universe.

The recently released Sky Map brings the heavens to our mobile phones.

In the day-to-day,  we rely on Google to organise oceans of information,  to summon one trillion websites to our fingertips. 

‘Googling’ has become a universal pastime;  an essential item in our professional and social toolkits.

I can think of few other companies that have their own verb.

Calvin – imaginative playmate of Hobbes – considers the way nouns turn into verbs, and concludes that “verbing weirds language.”

If Google has been ‘verbed’ in this sense,  it’s a mark not only of the evolution of our language (however weird) but of the way Google has influenced our culture,  our society,  our habits of thought and speech,  our way of engaging with the world – and with the web.

Google Australia delivers all this to us: growing the Google experience in our unique context; advancing our technology ‘ecosystem’; showcasing the strength of our tech industry and our graduates; reflecting the pace and pulse of our community.

You elicit the best of Australian ingenuity –  what has always defined and distinguished us. 

You provide space and,  importantly,  time,  for Australian ideas to emerge,  develop,  and proliferate;  finding applications here and overseas.

Your flexible,  playful and creative ethos won you the acclaim of BRW’s ‘best place to work’ – a title reinforced by the nearly 20,000 would-be ‘Googlers’ who applied for jobs here.

I love the idea of 20%  time. That’s one day in five devoted to what most energises and motivates,  where the sky is by no means the limit.

Some of your best creations,  I know,  had their genesis in 20% time.     What a wonderful expression of faith in your Googlers – their ability and capacity,  their humanness.

Google:  I praise your example and thank you for your outstanding contribution to Australia’s economy,  culture,  and progress.