As the opening of this year’s Royal South Street Eisteddfod nears, the RSSS is stepping up its series of special events commemorating its 125th anniversary.
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The Ballarat Mining Exchange will be the venue for two Royal South Street’s Great Debates to celebrate their early beginnings as a debating society for this Heritage Weekend.
The Mining Exchange Shop front will also provide an opportunity for people to video and share their Royal South Street Story, which will then be posted on the 125th anniversary website.
The first debate will be conducted on Saturday 7th May at 12.30. Titled ‘The Great Debate – 1’, its topic will be:
‘That we need more women in government’
Ballarat City Councillors will go head-to-head over the debate around whether we need more women in government – and draw on hilarious content from an early South Street debate in 1888 when the question of whether women should get the vote was hotly contested. Interestingly, women were not represented on either the negative or affirmative team, and it would be another 14 years before women won the right to vote in Australia.
Could they run the hose in 25 seconds against the City Brigade!
- 1888 debate
Those for the proposition in the 1888 debate felt women were superior and current attitudes were mired in ‘the mists of antiquity’ and radiated ‘through the gloom of impalpable ignorance.’ Which also goes to show the wonderful grasp of the English language our forbears possessed.
Those against the proposition believed women were more absorbed in ‘laces feathers, improvers, stays, stockings, artificial teeth and other articles for personal adornment, too numerous to mention.’ Which likewise goes to show the astonishing amount of undergarments our forebears had to put up with, it seems.
They concluded that women should remain as they are and threw out the following challenge.
“If they insisted upon taking a front seat were they prepared for the results? Were they up to pick and shovel work? Could they run the hose in 25 seconds against the City Brigade! Could they run up ladders and tumble off them against the Chiltern firemen! Would they be likely to shine at putting up poppet-legs and winding-gear? In short, were they prepared to keep men as comfortable as they were kept at present? If so, let them try it, and give men a spell.”
The Great Debate – 2 will be held on Sunday 8 May at 12.30pm, the topic for that debate being:
‘That we learn from history and the past’
The second debate will be captained and squadded by the best of our local school’s debating teams.
