Lawrence Campbell Oratory Competition

The Lawrence Campbell Oratory Competition is an annual competition in impromptu public speaking between representatives of each of the Great Public Schools (GPS) and Combined Associated Schools (CAS) in New South Wales, Australia. It was established in 1935, in honour of Lawrence Campbell, a famous teacher of elocution in various schools in Sydney, in the early twentieth century. Between 2006 and 2013, in all but one year (2009), the competition was won by a student in year 11. At the 2015 World University Debating Championships in Malaysia, three of the eight speakers in the Grand Final (representing Sydney, Oxford, and Harvard) were former Lawrence Campbell winners – a testament to the quality of the Lawrence Campbell competition.

Format

The Lawrence Campbell Oratory is widely regarded as the most prestigious, and difficult of the New South Wales Public Speaking Competitions. Each school is represented by one speaker. Each speaker is required to give a speech of eight minutes length of one of three topics given to him or her 15 minutes beforehand. In this competition, the emphasis is on oratory, the art of speech, and so the manner of delivery counts at least equally with the subject matter. The emphasis is on giving a speech that combines humour with pathos, dramatic elements with more conversational moments, serious commentary with light-hearted asides, quotations drawn from a variety of sources, but all around a common thread based on the chosen topic, and showing the style of the candidate. Accordingly, the style of speech is very different from many other public speaking competitions in which candidates research and prepare speeches of their own in advance, often on questions of current affairs or public policy. With only fifteen minutes to prepare and without the aid of books or references, the content of the speech will test the candidates' general knowledge and ingenuity.

Participating schools
Crest School Location Enrollment Founded Denomination Day/Boarding School Colors Number of wins
Barker College Hornsby 2000 1890 Anglican Day & Boarding Red & Blue 3
Cranbrook School Bellevue Hill 1000 1918 Anglican Day & Boarding Red, White & Blue 2
Knox Grammar School Wahroonga 1850 1924 Uniting Church Day & Boarding Black & Blue 3
Newington College Stanmore 1600 1863 Uniting Church Day & Boarding Black & White 5
St Aloysius' College Milsons Point 1200 1879 Catholic
(Jesuit)		 Day Blue & Gold 5
St Ignatius' College Riverview 1569 1880 Catholic
(Jesuit)		 Day & Boarding Blue & White 23
St Joseph's College Hunters Hill 1000 1881 Catholic
(Marist Brothers)		 Day & Boarding Cerise & Blue 5
Sydney Boys High School Moore Park 1140 1883 N/A Day Chocolate Brown &
Sky Blue		 8
Sydney Church of England Grammar School North Sydney 1300 1889 Anglican Day & Boarding Navy Blue & White 7
Sydney Grammar School Darlinghurst 1109 1854 Non-denominational Day Black & Gold 16
The Armidale School Armidale 800 1894 Anglican Day & Boarding Navy Blue & Straw 0
The King's School Parramatta 1400 1831 Anglican Day & Boarding White & Sky Blue 1
The Scots College Bellevue Hill 1600 1893 Presbyterian Day & Boarding Gold & Blue 3
Trinity Grammar School Summer Hill 1700 1913 Anglican Day & Boarding Green, White & Grey 4
Waverley College Waverley 1430 1903 Catholic Day Royal Blue & Gold 0

Each school is represented by one speaker. Saint Ignatius’ College has the most distinguished history, with twenty-two winning candidates in the competition's history. In recent years, Sydney Grammar, Newington College and Barker College have been the most successful schools. Waverley College and The Armidale School have never fielded a winning candidate.

Topics

Because of the emphasis on oratory, the topics usually admit of wide latitude for the candidates to be creative. Often, quotations from literature, public figures, and popular culture are chosen as topics, along with proverbs or even single words. Past topics include:

  • Assume a virtue if you have it not
  • One crowded hour of glorious life is worth an age without a name
  • I must follow them, for I am their leader
  • He thinks too much – such men are dangerous
  • Because it was there
  • The devil can recite scripture for his purpose
  • The fault, dear Brutus, lies not in the stars
  • I am Fate's lieutenant; I act under orders
  • Couch Jumping
  • Right as the world goes is only in issue between equals in power while the strong do as they will and the weak suffer as they must
  • Chaos Often Breeds Life When Order Breeds Habit
  • Look at my works, you mighty, and despair
  • Two cheers for Democracy
  • Blood will have Blood

Notable past winners

The Lawrence Campbell oratory competition has many distinguished previous winners, particularly in the areas of law, politics, and the arts. Famous past winners include:

The only people to have won the competition on two occasions are:

  • RW Bowie (Sydney Grammar – 1939, 1940)
  • Murray Gleeson (St Joseph's – 1953, 1955)
  • Anthony Jones (Scots – 1999, 2000)
  • Jeremy Raper (Sydney Grammar – 2001, 2002)
  • Joseph Ware (Barker College – 2008, 2009)

Controversies

There have been many controversies in the history of the competition. These usually arise out of allegations of plagiarism and the use of prepared material in the speech.

Often, the candidate is given the benefit of any doubt, if only because candidates train intensively for the competition and must necessarily think of themes, quotations, and one-liners that may emerge in the speech the candidate later gives at the competition. However, the wholesale repetition of prepared material is strongly discouraged, and with enough proof, a winner may be stripped of the title if wholesale preparation is shown.

Previous winners and runners-up
YearWinnerSchoolRunner-upSchoolThird placeSchool
1935RF HughesSt Ignatius' College
1936DF CummingsSt. Ignatius' College
1937J D E Bedford Shore
1938WB Pritchard Shore
1939RW Bowie Sydney Grammar
1940RW Bowie Sydney Grammar
1941FA Jensen Sydney Grammar
1942Not held(Death of Lawrence Campbell)
1943AC GouldSt Ignatius' College
1944P ClyneSydney Boys High
1945AE Melville Shore
1946HH Jamieson Shore
1947AM Gallagher
W Glen-Doepel		St Joseph's
Sydney Boys High aeq
1948B BeveridgeSydney Boys High
1949AD Robb
AD Dingle		Sydney Boys High
Knox aeq
1950GJ WoodburneSydney Boys High
1951DH Lance Sydney Grammar
1952JM Bennett Shore
1953A. Murray GleesonSt Joseph's
1954M Halstead St Aloysius'
1955A. Murray GleesonSt Joseph's
1956JP HamiltonSydney Boys High
1957LD WaddyKing's
1958Mungo MacCallumCranbrook
1959AG WhealySt Ignatius' College
1960BP JonesSt Ignatius' College
1961C. Wayne Hudson Newington
1962Gerard C WindsorSt Ignatius' College
1963Nick F GreinerSt Ignatius' College
1964Clifton R HoebenSt Ignatius' College
1965CG McDonaldSt. Ignatius' College
1966Nick P EnrightSt Ignatius' College
1967JS EyersSt Ignatius' College
1968PA BoyleSt Ignatius' College
1969WJ KavanaghSt Ignatius' College
1970L Olson Sydney Grammar
1971JD ScahillSt Ignatius' College
1972Malcolm B Turnbull Sydney Grammar
1973P Green Newington
1974AC ByrnesSt Ignatius' College
1975JJ McInernySt Ignatius' College
1976RR Harper Sydney Grammar
1977S MarksSt Joseph's
1978DI McMahon Shore
1979Max Bonnell Trinity
1980CG ManganSt Joseph's
1981CM Kelly Sydney Grammar
1982Bruce MeagherSt Ignatius' College
1983Mark SwivelSydney Boys High
1984J Rice St Aloysius'
1985S Nixon Sydney Grammar
1986Adam Spencer St Aloysius'
1987A McKenna St Aloysius'
1988Andrew O'KeefeSt Ignatius' College
1989B FranklinCranbrook
1990JN GreinerSt Ignatius' College
1991Max Wood Trinity
1992Angus Fitzsimons Knox
1993Charles Firth Sydney Grammar
1994Mark WalshSt Ignatius' College
1995David Yeo Sydney Grammar
1996Peter Phillips Newington
1997Gareth TilleySydney Boys High
1998Jeremy Bell TrinityJames Brown Knox
1999Anthony JonesScots
2000Anthony JonesScots
2001Jeremy Raper Sydney Grammar
2002Jeremy Raper Sydney Grammar
2003Not awardedWinner voluntarily agreed to give up award after a similar speech had been given at a previous competition2nd and 3rd place also queried and so not awarded
2004Mark Longhurst NewingtonKip WilliamsCranbrook
2005Patrick Bateman Sydney GrammarHayden Guthrie Barker College
2006Vikram Joshi Sydney GrammarNathaniel Ware Barker College
2007Edward Miller NewingtonVikram Joshi Sydney Grammar
2008Joseph Ware Barker CollegeWilliam HarrisScotsSam Molloy Sydney Grammar
2009Joseph Ware Barker CollegeConor BatemanKing'sDaniel Farinha St Aloysius'
2010James Monaghan Sydney GrammarDaniel Farinha St Aloysius'Jack Price Barker College
2011Bo Seo Barker CollegeMichael Rees NewingtonJames Monaghan Sydney Grammar
2012Ed Minack ShoreBo Seo Barker CollegeHarry MaherSt Joseph's College
2013Robbie Ferguson KnoxEd Minack ShoreManish Poologasundram Trinity
2014Tushaar GargSydney Boys HighRobbie Ferguson KnoxJoshua WoollerScots
2015Alex Connolly TrinityJake Jerogin KnoxSam Wolfe Sydney Grammar
2016 James Elhindi St Aloysius' William Solomon Barker College Zachary August Scots
2017Joe BonicScotsDaniel Yim Sydney GrammarCharlie HoffmanSt Ignatius' College
2018 Jack Issa St Joseph's College Sebastian Braham St Ignatius' College Justin Lai Sydney Boys High
2019 Sebastian Braham St Ignatius' College Aman Mohamed Sydney Boys High Jinyoung Kim King's

Notes
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