Governor honoured to visit west on first tour since COVID

His Excellency Paul de Jersey, governor of Queensland, has awarded one outstanding local an OAM and officially opened the next big attraction.

His Excellency, Governor of Queensland Paul de Jersey, presented Mrs Marvelle Kerslake of Mitchell with her Order of Australia Medal at an investiture ceremony on Tuesday, June 16.

REMARKABLE local people and exciting new attractions in the west have warranted a visit from Governor of Queensland Paul de Jersey this week – his first regional tour since COVID-19 travel restrictions were lifted statewide.

On a tour to Mitchell, Charleville and Goondiwindi on Tuesday, His Excellency had the distinct honour of presenting Mrs Marvelle Kerslake with an Order of Australia Medal, for her decades of dedicated volunteering in the Mitchell community.

While touring the region, the Governor also opened the long-awaited Charleville planetarium – the latest addition to the Cosmos Centre – and took out time to meet local student leader’s from Charleville’s schools.

On opening the new planetarium, His Excellency said he looks forward to seeing the facility open to all Queenslanders.

“This is a big development for the region, which is very tourist oriented,” he said.

“When tourism restarts soon, we will certainly see the benefits of that.”

His Excellency said on his visit to the southwest, meeting community-minded people had been inspiring.

“This is a wonderful opportunity to recognise Mrs Kerslake, who is a wonderful stalwart of the Mitchell community, and the community would be much the less if there weren’t people like this who are prepared to put their hand up and do so many things,” he said.

“I was also terribly excited to meet the students; I love engaging with school students, and it was a good span of the spectrum to meet with older and younger people.”

The western tour was the first time His Excellency had visited the region in three years; in 2017 he visited Charleville to present Australian Bravery Decorations to ten people who assisted in the Angellalla bridge explosion, and open the new airport.

Originally published as