The Lawrence Campbell Oratory Competition has been held each year since 1935. One student from each of the GPS and CAS schools competes for what is widely regarded as the most prestigious and difficult oratory competition in the country.
Historically, this competition has been won by some very well-known Australians including the Chief Justice of Australia, Murray Gleeson (Joeys Old Boy), former NSW Premier Nick Greiner, former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, well know playwright Nick Enright, radio presenter Adam Spencer, television presenter Andrew O’Keefe and Charles Firth from The Chaser.
How it works … the speakers are given the choice of three topics and then given 15 minutes to prepare for an 8 minute speech. Yep … just 15 minutes and an 8 minute speech!
Joeys has had the fourth most winners of all schools in the history of the competition and in 2021 we congratulate Bernard Lund who has become our 6th winner of this coveted competition. In total Joeys have won 7 competitions as Murray Gleeson won it twice.
However, whilst the acclamation of a win is wonderful for Bernie, what is more special is what he had to say. It was real, it was raw and it was personal.
On Tuesday at our Division Meeting, Bernie agreed to re-deliver his speech. A mammoth task to speak in front of 200 of your peers. He absolutely nailed it and there is no doubt that his mates appreciated it, illustrated by the considerable ovation they gave him.
Below is the video of the speech he gave at the competition. Watching it is worth every second!
