Speechmaking in Australian History

15 May 2007

Professor Ken Inglis

Allan Martin's two principal subjects as a historian, Sir Henry Parkes and Sir Robert Menzies, were both great orators.

Among questions asked in this lecture (the Allan Martin Memorial Lecture for 2007) are the following: When can a speech be said to have affected history? What has become of that once popular institution the public meeting and that once popular form the sermon? What is the future for speechmaking in an age of speechwriters, doorstop interviews, sound grabs, power points and the internet?

Allan Martin (1926–2002) was an intellectual, institutional, and social pioneer whose career as a historian spanned the second half of the 20th century. When most Australians went to England for their postgraduate work, he chose ANU, where he was the first doctoral student in History in the Research School of Social Sciences. He accepted the Foundation chair in History at LaTrobe University in 1966 and returned to RSSS as a senior fellow in 1973.

Ken Inglis enjoyed Allan's friendship for more than 40 years. They were long-time colleagues in the history department of the ANU's RSSS, and worked closely together on the 10-volume bicentennial project initiated in the department, Australians. A Historical Library .

Broad Topics: Arts and Social Sciences

Sub-topics: Creative Arts, History & Archeology, Journalism, Language & Linguistics

Areas: ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences

Ken's books include Churches and the Working Classes in Victorian England , Australian Colonists , The Stuart Case , Sacred Places: War Memorials in the Australian Landscape , This is the ABC , and most recently, Whose ABC ?