Former Prime Minister Julia Gillard has been conferred an honorary Doctor of Letters by the University of Newcastle, recognising her career of achievements in furthering access to education and championing social inclusion both during her time in office and in her public life outside of government.
Dr Gillard was in Newcastle Wednesday, where she attended the university's final graduation ceremony in a week when upwards of 3000 students were conferred their degrees in nine ceremonies - the largest cohort yet for the institution, vice chancellor Alex Zelinsky said during his address.
Dr Gillard's occasional address urged the assembled graduates to be thoughtful of their potential to shape the world around them and to, as she put it, not let their sense of purpose "organically sneak up on you".
"I first came here in 1981 when I was the education vice president of what was then the Australian Union of Students," Dr Gillard said, "I clearly remember walking onto the campus and falling in love with it immediately. It looked to me like some giant had picked up the buildings and put them there so that the bush and tress could thrive right next door.
"I thought to myself, this is really what an Australian university should look like."
In relating her early career rising through the ranks of student unions and early involvement with the Labor Party that would ultimately lead her to become the nation's 27th Prime Minister, Dr Gillard said she became preoccupied over the years with her sense of purpose.
"I had got this taste that if you were really interested in shaping your world ... if you really believed in something the way I passionately I did in education, then you could make a difference," she said. "Don't let these things - your sense of purpose, where you want to go, your sense of self and who you want to be in the world - don't let them organically sneak up on you the way I let them sneak up on me. Instead, think about them. Really sit down and think about what you want to do with this next stage of your life.
"I got more thoughtful as the years rolled by on that question of purpose and by the time I was Prime Minister, I was writing down on sheets of paper what I viewed as my personal purpose and the purpose of the government I led. I wish I had been that methodical earlier in my life."
During her induction, Dr Zelinsky cited Dr Gillard's decades of public service and particular drive for broadening access to education. Her citation describes her as "an inspirational leader whose significant contributions continue to have a profound impact on the education and life opportunities for people throughout our region and across Australia."
