27 October 2003

The Governor of Queensland, Her Excellency Ms Quentin Bryce, AC will announce the 2004 Queensland Rhodes Scholar at around 5.15-5.30pm tomorrow (Tuesday, October 28) at The University of Queensland.

The selection committee will interview six short-listed candidates before choosing the one who will take up the scholarship at the University of Oxford in September 2004.

The Queensland Rhodes Scholar will join five winners from the other states and three from Australia-at-Large.

This year the selection committee received 26 applications for the scholarship.

NOTE TO NEWS EDITORS AND CHIEFS OF STAFF

The successful candidate for 2004 will be available after the announcement for photographs and interviews in the Vice-Chancellor’s office waiting area on Level 4 of the Brian Wilson Chancellery, next to the JD Story Building, on the University’s St Lucia campus. To access the Chancellery, enter via the JD Story Building, take the lift to level four, and walk across the link bridge.

Parking will be available in the Mansfield Place carpark, adjacent to the JD Story Building, with access through the boom gates. Please use the boom gate intercom to request access.

For further information, contact Douglas Porter, Honorary Secretary of the Queensland Rhodes Scholarship Selection Committee (telephone 07 3365 1311).

Background to Rhodes Scholarships

Rhodes Scholarships, founded in 1902 under the will of the late Cecil John Rhodes, are tenable at the University of Oxford for an initial two years, with the possibility of a third. Candidates must be aged between 19 and 25 years and citizens of the country from which they are selected.

Scholarships are assigned annually in Australia, Canada, India, Jamaica, New Zealand, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, the United States, Germany, British Caribbean, Malaysia, Singapore, Pakistan, Kenya and Hong Kong.

Australia receives nine – one for each state and three for Australia-at-large.

Since the scheme began, about 500 Rhodes Scholars have been selected. Women became eligible in 1972.

The first Rhodes Scholarship awarded in Queensland was won in 1904 by Arthur Stanley Roe, five years before an Act of Parliament was passed to set up The University of Queensland.

The qualities set out by the late Cecil Rhodes for those seeking Rhodes Scholarships include academic and intellectual excellence, integrity of character, respect for fellow beings and a capacity for leadership. Sporting prowess is an advantage, but not a necessity.