At the outset, I pay my deep respect to the traditional owners of this land.
Your Excellency, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen and Children.
In addition to the gracious Welcome to the Country by Uncle Ray Davison, I
personally welcome every one of you for taking the trouble to attend this event
on a Friday evening of a long weekend.
This book is the outcome of an informal discussion that I had about two and a
half years ago with my former university colleague Senaka Weeraratna.
We were both law students when I first met Senaka some 53 years ago at the
Colombo Law Faculty. Some of us kept in touch with each other after leaving
the University of Ceylon in 1972 although we were living in different parts of
the world.
Senaka suggested that some of the work I had done in Australia, particularly
on behalf of the First Nations People, was worth placing on record for the
benefit of both the current and future generations.
While we were engaged in that discussion, I had already started scribbling
down some notes about life in Sri Lanka in the 1950s, mainly for the better
awareness of my children and grandchildren.
I had some initial misgivings about doing a whole book.
However, Senaka had other ideas and thought differently. He advised me to
be prepared for the long haul. To go the whole hog. He prevailed until I
agreed with him to do a whole new book using ‘The Vision Splendid – A
Century of Carroll & O’ Dea 1899 – 1999’ by Justin Fleming as a role model or
precedent which in hindsight was a prudent decision on my part. I am grateful
for Senaka’s vision, insights, and indefatigable efforts in compiling and editing
this book which is a collection of 25 remarkable essays written by people of
