Deniehy puts republican stamp on city | Photos

The self-described “ultra-republican,” a gifted orator and writer, has been honoured at the third annual Deniehy Oration, celebrating his contribution to Australian politics and the republican movement.

At five-foot tall, Deniehy was small in stature, but he was a giant of Australia’s early republican movement.

ANU Social Researcher Dr David Headon, who gave this year’s Deniehy Oration, said that while Deniehy was most famous for his 1853 ‘Bunyip Aristocracy’ speech, he “produced the finest set of writing by any Australian republican” during his time in Goulburn.

His Goulburn letters, written from his offices at Mandelson’s Hotel, Dr Headon said, were full of “idealism, optimism and vision”.

“He leaves Sydney in early 1854 and comes to Goulburn as a solicitor.

He wants to make a go in what was a thriving town,” Dr Headon said.

“He wanted to ‘lead the vanguard of the republican opposition’.”

Whether it was the bracing country air, or the surroundings free of a city’s hustle and bustle, the move to Goulburn ignited something in Deniehy’s writing.

His first editorial for the Goulburn Herald was published in June, 1854, simply entitled ‘Our Country’s Opportunity’, considered by many to be a social blueprint for a republic.

It was the start of “a long reign of terror” that Deniehy held over the Herald’s editorial and letters pages.

Deniehy produced countless letters and articles espousing the republican cause. These were not just why Australia should adopt the republican system, but how to do it, according to Dr Headon.

Deniehy and Goulburn’s Mandelson’s Hotel are forever linked. Not only did he move there from Sydney, but for his first 18 months in Goulburn, his offices were based at the hotel. He eventually moved into a private residence when his family joined him in Goulburn.

His letters “are the grand testament” to Deniehy’s passion for the republican cause.

Deniehy died an alcoholic, vomiting blood, in Bathurst in October 1865. He was only 37.

PETER FitzSimons is famous for his ‘kiss of death’ in his regular Fitz Files column when it comes to predictions, but he is confident that Australia will be a republic “five years from now”.

The former Wallaby and current chair of the Australian Republican Movement’s national committee was in Goulburn on Saturday night to hear Dr Headon’s oration.

He told the Goulburn Post that the city’s role in the republican movement was “extremely important”.

“The Australian republic has a fabulous story to tell, but the problem is so much of it isn’t known by the wider public,” he said.

“It didn’t start in with the referendum in 1999, but in 1804.”

There’s plenty of goodwill towards the Australian Republican Movement, according to Mr FitzSimons, but he urged people to join up to the cause.

An advocate of the minimalist republican model, Mr FitzSimons supports a system where “any of us can become head of state”.

“We have this ludicrously embarrassing situation where our head of state comes from one family sitting in a palace in England,” he said.

“Goodwill is appreciated, but we need membership. The ARM’s membership has doubled recently, and we need it to double again.”

With Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, opposition leader Bill Shorten, “at least six state premiers” and a raft of other high profile lawmakers all supportive of a republic, Mr FitzSimons believes a change in model is inevitable.

“The stars of the Southern Cross are pointing to the dawn of an Australian republic like never before,” Mr Fitzsimons said.

“But this needs to be a people’s movement. Malcolm Turnbull has said that.”