The late Brian Keating rarely talked about his service during World War Two.
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That was until after he joined Goulburn Rostrum. The stories of raids over Germany while flying Lancaster Bombers for the Royal Australian Air Force poured forth one night. He also told of his injuries incurred during an attack on the Cologne-Gremberg marshaling yards in January, 1945.
Mr Keating, a mentor and nurturer, was in everyone’s mind last Tuesday night as Goulburn Rostrum members met for the last time. The club is winding up after 81 years due to low membership.
“It was a very emotional night...very enjoyable with lots of memories. Everybody got up and spoke,” member and past president Rob Walker said.
Members reflected on the likes of the late Geoff Sharp, a local engineer with “a dry sense of humour” from whom they also learnt a great deal. Rostrum was full of movers and shakers, including aldermen, councillors and mayors, solicitors, prominent business people and community leaders keen to learn the art of public speaking. They left an impression on many, including Mr Walker.
“Some of those speeches you just don’t forget,” he told The Post.
Secretary Sandra Walker said Rostrum was set up for precisely this reason but also to “enrich fellowship among members.” The club gathered regularly at the Best Western in Lagoon Street. At meetings, members delivered speeches and readings on which they received feedback and became versed in meeting procedure.
“It was a great way of getting people to use their personal talents,” Mrs Walker said.
“..There were a lot of well known people in the club because being able to speak well was part of their profession.”
Past members have included solicitor and former Mayor JB Mullen - its first president, historian Ransome T Wyatt, solicitor Don Elder, Goulburn Evening Post and Goulburn Post editors Ray Leeson and John Thistleton, Mayor Pat Fairall, John Duffy and Michael Murray, who sent a touching note to the club which was read at last Tuesday’s meeting.
“It is indeed sad news that the club is to wind up,” Mr Murray wrote.
“But what a great history to look back on and what a legacy for the people of Goulburn. Rostrum has given so many young people the experience of public speaking and who knows, one could be a future Prime Minister.”
Mr Murray said when he first joined Rostrum he was given three pieces of advice on public speaking.
“Tell them what you’re going to tell them. Tell them and then tell them what you told them. Or as Winston Churchill put it: ‘If you have an important point to make, don’t try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it again – a tremendous whack.”
Mr Thistleton, who also couldn’t attend the gathering, wrote that he looked forward to Rostrum’s Tuesday evenings at the 147 Restaurant “with Freeman Brian Keating teaching us all, nurturing, bringing new members and getting support from various sections of the Goulburn community.”
“The club taught me a great deal about meeting procedures, public speaking and civic affairs in Goulburn,” he wrote.
“It was a big asset for the Goulburn Post and for schools and any club that wanted to improve governance.”
For Mrs Walker, a member for 15 years, the club gave her confidence to speak in public.
“I could get up and say what I thought without crashing, which was what I used to do,” she said.
Mrs Walker said at its peak, Rostrum had 50 members but had struggled with low numbers in recent years due to people’s work and social schedules as well as illness. This was despite a membership drive one year ago which was also aimed at enlisting younger people.
“It’s just not happening but I think this is the trouble besetting a lot of clubs,” she said.
“...It’s sad that it’s all finished but we didn’t see the last meeting as a wake, just the end of the road. We’re all good friends and will still catch up socially.”
Current president Tony Morrison said Rostrum’s end in Goulburn was a great shame.
“It does a great deal of good in the community and has a rich history. Public speaking is a wonderful attribute to have,” he said.
Rostrum will officially wind up in February.
A little history
Goulburn Rostrum Club was started by Jack Duffy on April 4, 1936, according to Mrs Walker’s research.
It was the seventh Rostrum Club to be established in rural Australia. JB Mullen was appointed president and GM Rogers its secretary. Rostrum was started in Manchester, England by Sydney Wicks. Visiting Australians who attended meetings then started it in this country.
At the club’s second anniversary, celebrated at the Fireside Inn in 1938, Mr Wicks sent a message defining Rostrum’s fundamental object as the “search for truth through freedom of speech.”
In 1938, Rostrum started a public speaking competition for secondary schools. The Goulburn Evening Penny Post reported in 1939 that Saint Patrick’s College senior boys spoke on topics ranging from ‘The influence of the modern press is pernicious’ to ‘How to develop Australia’ and ‘Do the characters of Dickens lack realism?’ Later, it extended the competition to primary schools. It continued as the Voice of Youth up until this year.
Now the club is negotiating with other organisations to take over the competition.
Some longtime Rostrum members include Campbell Bradley, Harley Price, Michael Connolly, Ron and Nerida Cullen and Graeme Dunn.