Full transcript of speech:

A few weeks ago I went to the Sydney Rugby 7s with a bunch of other Wenona dads dressed as superheroes! I could tell you who these dads are, but it would be poor superhero etiquette to reveal their everyday identities. I’m sure their daughters would be more than happy to give them up. I can assure you that all these dads are first class professionals at the top of their game.

Soon after, the invitation came up for this talk, and there was this obvious theme – dads as superheroes! But I’ll be honest, most days I feel more like Clark Kent or Peter Parker than Super Dad or Spidey Dad. Each day, I just try to do my best and we figure it out as we go. Not always successfully. My go-to hairstyle for the girls is ponytail. I find girls’ swimmers super-complicated!. Unfortunately I lack any special super sauce that makes the whole dad thing easier. It’s not the glamorous gig of the Dark Knight. I don’t even get Batman’s awesome car, and according to my kids, mum is the better driver anyway.

But the dad job comes with some pretty cool perks. Here I am holding my girls, Tessa and Georgia, for the first time, ever. For me this was a special experience – I was holding the future of my world in my hands. But kids have a way of keeping things in perspective. When my girls see this photo, they always say “Hey! Dad! You had hair once!”

But I do think that superheroes are a useful idea. Why do we have superhero stories? Superheroes give us hope, they help us cope with adversity. Superheroes represent some aspirational concept of ourselves – when we look at Batman or Superman, or Rey, or Wonder Woman, or Supergirl, they make us want to be better people and to make the world a better place.

And that is why, for me, there are superheroes here today, amongst us. There are people here that inspire us. There are people here that give us hope for the future. There are people here that make us want to make the world a better place. For us dads, the real superheroes here today are our Wenona girls. My daughters came to Wenona a few years ago, and started at Woodstock with a brilliant, vibrant bunch of bright young friends. Over the years, we’ve met more Wenona girls, and this year a group of new girls came in to join us. In years to come, these young women that are here with us today, these daughters of ours, will grow up and do things that will look to us like magic. They will build rocket ships and satellites, harness technology and fight diseases, create great works of art, and generally just be good people. And a good person is a superhero.

Everyone needs heroes, and Tessa and Georgia are mine. They aren’t big people but they are powerful! They don’t have super powers in the familiar sense – Bealings aren’t all that great at running or jumping, and Tessa proved just a couple weeks ago when she came off the monkey bars that Bealings can’t fly – but these girls have superpowers nonetheless.

Superpowers, like positivity and resilience. From day one, these girls have got up and faced the challenges of their days with smiles on their faces.

I see other superpowers, like curiosity. I don’t recall ever seeing a users guide for MineCraft in our house but man can they whip up some awesomeness in that game! They work things out by playing with them. I hope that superpower lasts forever.

A third superpower is tolerance. These Wenona girls have a remarkable ability to overcome differences and rub along.

Finally, the superpower of friendship. And this is a superpower that this community shares. Stacey and I always say that our girls embraced Wenona when they started here, but Wenona embraced the girls in return, and we’ll always be grateful to the community here for that embrace. When our girls fall down, hands are immediately extended to help them up. When Georgia swims at the carnival and girls line up and cheer themselves hoarse, and when mums, dads, girls and teachers text us through the night we’re in the hospital getting Tessa’s arm fixed up, our family is grateful for this super powered community here at this school.

Positivity. Curiosity. Tolerance. Friendship. Community. These are the superpowers that these girls will use in life to reach their potential. In the meantime, while they are reaching that potential – the girls teach me. They inspire me. And like any superhero, they make me want to be a better person. They make me want to work to make the world a little bit better, so that when it comes their turn to take over, they’re in a better place.

Like all superheroes, they aren’t perfect! We’re still working on superpowers to clean our room, hang up our towels, bring our drink bottles home from school, and eat our broccoli, but no doubt they will come with time.

So if the girls are the superheroes, then were does that leave us, as dads? Dads fit into this story, but as different characters. Batman could not be Batman without someone else – and it’s not Robin – Alfred – Alfred, the butler. Alfred is Batman’s Batman. Every superhero has an Alfred somewhere in their story. Alfred brings wisdom, he breaks the negative cycles, he makes sacrifices. And without those sacrifices, Batman could not do what he does. There would be no Batman without Alfred, and our girls can never fully live up to their potential as superheroes without their Dads.

Our journey as dads doesn’t always feel super, and it doesn’t always feel heroic, but we know it is central to the lives of these girls. They say that anyone can be a father, but it takes someone special to be a dad. As dads, we are part of our daughters’ lives not just when it’s convenient or easy, and not just for the high points — dads are there when life gets difficult. That is when they need us most. Events like this help us do that.

It would be remiss of me not to take this opportunity to recognise the other super group of people here today – the teachers and leaders at Wenona. It takes superheroes to teach superheroes. Two weeks ago when the monkey bars got one over on Tess, we saw those superheroes in action. The level of care and attention on that day is consistent with our entire experience here.

Thanks to the Wenona team for organising this opportunity for a little more dad involvement in our girls’ school lives. I hope you all a super day.