Australia's 28th Governor-General, Her Excellency the Honourable Sam Mostyn AC, visited Lismore yesterday, making good her promise to Mayor Steve Krieg when the two met soon after her official swearing-in on July 1st this year.

"I think it's important that I've come, and it's a trip that I've wanted to make since being sworn into office," the Governor-General told the Lismore App, "It was something that the former governor-general impressed upon me, having come here many times.

"As he was leaving and handing the role to me, he was clear that to come is very important and to listen and to just make sure people are doing okay, but to keep showing up. So, it was always going to be an important part of my first few months in the role. And then, I was lucky enough to see Steve Krieg and Jeri Hall in the first week of my term when they were in Canberra for the Local Government Association Conference. We had a really great discussion about what was happening in Lismore and the Northern Rivers, and why it was important to come and visit soon. I gave that commitment in my first week in the office.

"So, it's taken us a little bit of time, mainly because we had a royal visit that I wasn't expecting, and so we wanted to give this proper attention time."

Her Excellency started her visit at the Jarjum Preschool in Goonellabah, where she was welcomed by Mayor Steve Krieg and given a tour by Family Worker Kristylee Buchanan, with Aunty Sandra Bolt, Shirley Patton and other staff in attendance.

She discovered that Jarjum now has 75 young students since opening the new building three years ago. Twenty of those have special needs.

The tour ended with the governor-general reading a book, Welcome To Country by Aunty Joy Murphy and illustrated by Lisa Kennedy, to a room of students.

Starting in a chair, it wasn't long before the governor-general moved to the floor to be closer to the Halloween-dressed children. It was the first indication of what Her Excellency's term as governor-general will focus on.

"I think the office of Governor-General is one of those high offices in our country that performs a series of roles, and one of them is to represent community and amplify the stories of community, back to the country, and to stand by communities, either in their moments of great joy or their moments of despair, and stick with communities.

"That's something that I've always believed anyone in an office like this should do. It's about showing up, continuing to show up, and understanding what it is that I can do in my role that can help a community find its way through and also to observe and listen to what makes a resilient Australian community.

"I've put at the centre of my term work care and kindness and respect. And I think care and kindness is something that all communities would like to see modelled by those of us who have the privilege of these offices. It's not just the showing up, it's listening and paying respect to the stories that are here. And for me, care is about caring for each other, caring for those that care. So clearly, there was a lot of that here that happened. And then caring for our natural environment and our great continent, caring for civics, institutions, and then caring for the way we conduct ourselves in the tough conversations, rather than descending into rancour and violence and enmity. How do we actually argue well, and civilly, and understand how we solve problems by doing that, not by fighting one another.

"So, the notion of care, for me, is at the core of the Office of the Governor-General. But it's not a soft option. It's, I think, a way of working with communities all around the country to build a sense of what allows us to be optimistic and successful and modern and diverse. I find that wherever I go, people are yearning for care and kindness.

"It's not easy to do. I think it sounds easy, but I think if you think about how a nation thinks about caring for each other and caring for those that care, we see that in the care economy, with those that are in the business of caring. But when you've been through something that this region's been through, and to see people who didn't expect to have to stand up, their world's changing forever, they'd lost everything, but were there for everybody else, and still have the residual recovery underway, and the fear of it happening again, it's very important that I do care, and my office cares, and that we encourage others to keep showing up and ensuring that the recovery and rebuilding is given the right support that it will need for this community."

Her Excellency's visit also included Southern Cross University, where she discussed its role in the flood rescue and recovery with Vice-Chancellor Tyrone Carlin and Chief of Staff Chris Ashton. She met the artists in residence at CONVERGE on Woodlark Street and inspected a few council assets under repair, including the Lismore Library and the Lismore Municipal Building (Historical Society).

(The team from Bennetts Construction explaining the rebuild in the main room upstairs in the Lismore Municipal Building)

When asked what she had observed yesterday, Her Excellency replied, "What I've discovered is exactly what I was told by Steve (Krieg) and Jeri (Hall) and General David Hurley, and that was, this is a community that has dealt with some of the toughest times, many times over, is very resilient and was able to get through this because of the strength of the community, but there's still a lot of underlying trauma and concern about what the future holds, and not just relying on things that have always been and will this ever happened again, but more importantly, to rebuild community and have a sense of belief that the community will be okay."

Her Excellency loves books and, standing by her earlier comments, expressed an interest in returning to Lismore in early 2025 for the official opening of the Lismore Library.

(Her Excellency during the Lismore Library tour)

"I'd love to come back and open this library. That is an image that is seared into my memory. I'm a lover of books and libraries, and so is my daughter. We saw those images of the books just being thrown out the window and just completely destroyed, and watching all of that literature and knowledge in one go being lost to this community.

"To come here and see a restoration that pays respect to the building and the purpose for which this building exists, I think, if I were invited back, I'd have to find room in my program to come and open that and celebrate with the community. That would be an indication of recovery and something to be very proud of.

"I will leave that up to the mayor and to those that are involved in this. But I want to keep showing up where you'd expect governors-general to show up. And show up in places that maybe governors-general haven't turned up before, just to keep caring and to keep reflecting on the national character and amplifying that around the country."

Mayor Krieg has said that Her Excellency is welcome back anytime to Lismore, so if the schedule allows, it is certain we will see her again in a few months and quite a few times over her term as the Governor-General of Australia.