Hello, everyone.

As Patron of the Children’s Book Council of Australia, it is a joy to be with you today for the Book of the Year Awards, particularly on the eve of this year’s Children’s Book Week, and to celebrate 80 years of the Book Council.

The theme ‘Book an Adventure’ captures it all.

We are here to honour the brilliant storytelling of Australian authors and illustrators.

And to acknowledge the vital work of the Children’s Book Council, in your 80th anniversary year – such an important milestone.

And, of course, to simply revel in and celebrate books and reading, here in the magnificent National Library of Australia.

Like all people who love books and writing, I always try to describe the place and role of books and reading across our lives.

And, of course, you never have the right words.

There’s never enough words to talk about the place of books that can be transformative, transporting, transcendent.

They can be guides, companions, comforters, and motivators.

Some books that we have given to us very early in life stay with us forever.

My favourite books as a child were not written in Australia. One was by AA Milne, and it was Christopher Robin and Winnie-the-Pooh.

But I also love May Gibb’s Snugglepot and Cuddlepie – something I’m reminded of whenever I am at Admiralty House in Sydney, where the banksia pods fall that I collect and have on tables around the house.

They were the inspiration for the banksia men.

And every time I see the dried pods on the ground, I pick them up and I think of May Gibbs, whose house is just around the corner in Kirribilli, where Snugglepot and Cuddlepie were conceived and written.

I was also given a very special book.

Again, it wasn’t an Australian author, but my dad gave it to me at age 10, the complete works of Arthur Conan Doyle.

And I read all those short stories as a very young reader and got interested in great literature, and I’ve always been a great fan Sherlock Holmes.

Just yesterday, I rang and spoke with my dear friend and celebrated Australian author, Anna Funder.

We raised our children together and we often talk about the place of books.

I asked her about the books she first remembered reading as a child. Her first books were What Anna Saved and The Bad Child’s Book of Beasts, an Edwardian cartoon collection.

They were both given to her by her mother.

Anna’s most recent essay for the Monthly, which she delivered at the recent Sydney Writers Festival, centres on her experience of a large bear in her very young childhood – and she uses that as a motif in her essay, and wonders whether it was the Book of Beasts, so lovingly still retained by her, is still influencing her writing today!

Certainly, she said, it was the books that she was given as a child that meant she always wanted to write and be an author, and she has done that exceptionally well.

I loved reading to my daughter Lotte when she was little. Her favourites when she was very young were Animalia, by Graeme Base, and Alison Lester’s Magic Beach, which she and I can both still recite to this day.

She also loved holding my mother’s old copy of Winnie-the-Pooh, which I had so treasured at her age.

Some books we don’t expect, but discover over the course of a life of reading.

And we are never too old to find new authors, genres, and words that teach us new ideas and take us to new places, and you’re never too young to find those new stories and new places.

I have always carried books with me, and my team knows how heavy my bag is, because it’s always filled with books.

Now, as Governor-General, I still carry books with me, and aim to fill the official residences – Government House here in Canberra, and Admiralty House in Sydney – with books. Particularly those written by Australian authors – and all forms: fiction, non-fiction, poetry, plays – and picture books.

I want people to visit us and see places just resplendent with the books that tell our stories.

I will include this year’s Books of the Year in that display.

I will say, I do carry one particular book with me – a mini Constitution – to help me explain my role to young people, or anyone that I meet.

I cherish the books that people give me when I travel around Australia – increasingly they are books for early readers from First Nations communities.

In my office at Government House I have Sea Country and Sky Country, both by Aunty Patsy Cameron and illustrated by Lisa Kennedy, and beautiful picture books by Adam Goodes: Somebody’s Land and Walk with Us.

Recently I was in east Arnhem Land, where I visited Yirrkala Bilingual School. The children there learn two languages, and they gave me two beautiful picture books published by the Indigenous Literacy Foundation – the same story; one in English, and one in Yolngu.

They sit very proudly in my office. They’re part of my growing collection of books and writing that tell Australia’s braided story.

Beginning with 65,000 years of Indigenous culture and history, continuing with our migrant stories and strong democratic institutions, reflecting our modern, successful nation.

Books that help us understand who we are, where we have come from, and where we are going.

Because there is nothing quite like books for answering those deep, human inquiries.

And it all begins in childhood.

It begins with Magic Beach, My Place, the Green Sheep, Grandma Poss – and so many wombats!

Children’s books are the door into worlds of wonder.

Little children begin to marvel at our own world through picture books.

Just yesterday, as we celebrated National Science Week, I spent time with young children and their parents in the story corner at Erindale Library, reading aloud about the moon and stars and space.

As I watched the parents and their young children, and many babies, sitting together surround by books, I was right back with my daughter, where the library and playgroups were full of Australian children’s books and we read our favourites.

As they grow, children learn about and understand this world, and many others, through chapter books.

In books they learn truths, often experiencing empathy by walking around in someone else’s skin for a while – as Atticus Finch puts it in To Kill a Mockingbird.

Our Australian storytellers have given children so much delight and knowledge about their own country – its extraordinary characters, complex history, and natural beauty.

Spending time looking at the Book of the Year notables, from which today’s winners are drawn, is astonishing.

From 730 entries, 122 books, representing 114 writers and 79 illustrators, the breadth and quality of children’s literature written by Australians is so affirming.

Last week the wonderful English children’s author Allan Ahlberg passed away.

The New York Times obituary included this quote from him:

“Just because a book is tiny and its readers are little doesn’t mean it can’t be perfect. On its own scale, it can be as good as Tolstoy or Jane Austen.”

Today, we are recognising the Austens and Tolstoys of Australian children’s literature.

We recognise you with joy and great admiration, and above all, gratitude.

To all of you who write and illustrate books for children – thank you for what you do.

Thank you for your care – care for your craft, care for the sacredness of books and stories, and care for little hearts and minds just beginning their exploration of life.

Thank you for the gift you give to all of us, and especially to our children.

Thank you also to the indefatigable judges who had the almost impossible task of choosing winners.

Congratulations to all the finalists and winners. I look forward to reading all your books and sharing them with all who visit the Official Residences.