The Queensland (QLD) Premier Anna Bligh was joined by six great QLD Olympians today at Milton State School to celebrate the opening of the school tuckshop, which was destroyed during the Brisbane floods last summer. 

The visit was arranged following the Australian Olympic Committee’s (AOC) donation of $100,000 to the QLD Flood Relief Appeal in January this year.  

Olympic champions Kieren Perkins, Libby Trickett, Nikki Hudson and Chantelle Newbery together with four time Olympian Tanya Harding and Beijing weightlifter Damon Kelly were present during the school assembly and listened to school principal Mr Paul Zernike recount the damage done during the devastating floods.  

“We lost the entire bottom floor of the school buildings,” Mr Zernike said. “It has been a massive year to rebuild and it is nice to have a tuckshop again for our students.” 

Premier Anna Bligh said Milton State School had been badly affected by the flood and she praised the school and its students for getting on with things as well as they had done.

“It was an extraordinary effort by the school community and workers to get Milton State School back up and running on Monday, March 07, just six weeks into the school year,” said the Premier.

“I’m sure the students were happy to get their classrooms back but I suspect they’ll be even happier to see their tuck shop re-open.

“All over Queensland people are working to recover from these natural disasters and we are building it back better right across this State.”

The Olympians joined the Premier to open the new tuckshop before they sampled some of the new healthy tuckshop snacks while meeting students and signing autographs.  

“It was a very difficult time for the people of QLD,” two time Olympic champion Kieren Perkins said.  

“Following all the wonderful support we Olympians have received from the Australian people, I was pleased the Olympic family could return this support and make a financial contribution to Australians in need.” 

Today’s visit, organised by the AOC and the QLD Olympic Council, was consistent to its response to the Victorian Bushfire  Appeal in 2009 when the AOC donated $100,000 and organised Olympians to visit Kinglake.

AOC