Australian Capital Territory Debating Union
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Australian Capital Territory Debating Union (also known as the ACTDU) is a not-for-profit incorporated association dedicated to facilitating effective debate in the Australian Capital Territory, Australia.
ACTDU organises school debating competitions in Canberra and surrounding regions. ACTDU is also responsible for the entry of a representative team into the annual National Schools Debating championships. ACTDU runs competitions in both the Australian style (two teams of three) and in the British Parliamentary debating style (two teams of two on each side).
The Ford, Murray and Douse competitions are our Junior (years 7 & 8), Intermediate (years 9 & 10) and Senior (years 11 & 12) Australian-style competitions. These are conducted in the evenings over a number of weeks, starting towards the end of first term. Schools are generally sent nomination forms in late February and the competitions will typically climax with a grand final in the middle of third term. British Parliamentary debating tournament. The website is available at www.actdu.org.au
The Crime Prevention Week debates are sponsored by the Australian Federal Police and are conducted in the British Parliamentary style. ACTDU run Junior (years 7-10) and Senior (years 11 & 12) Crime Prevention competitions, with nominations usually being called for during third term, with the competition over early in fourth term. Again, exact dates are listed on the calendar.
Beyond school-level debating, ACTDU coordinates debating tournaments for adults and provides a range of debating services to the wider community, including adjudication and communication training.
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[edit] Some ACTDU History...
(from ACTDU webpage, with their permission)
- "The ACTDU started in 1961 when some public servants set up a debating society to organise competitions between government departments in Canberra. In its early days it was extremely active, with sixty or more teams from departments, social clubs, churches and other organisations taking part in three separate grades.
ACT schools took part in the statewide NSW knockout school debating competition (organised by the NSW Department of Education) when it begand in the early 1970s, and the ACTDU helped with the organisation of those debates in the ACT. In 1973, the ACTDU began its own school competition, the Murray Trophy, for teams in Year 11 and below. This filled a gap, because the best Year 12 debators were taking part in the NSW competition. The trophy was named in honour of Brian Murray, who had been instrumental in establishing the competition.
In 1978, in response to suggestions from schools, we began the Douse Trophy for Year 11 and 12. For a year this ran in competition with the NSW statewide knockout, but ACT schools stopped taking part in the NSW competition the following year. At about the same time, the Murray competition was lowered to Year 10 and below following the introduction of ACT senior colleges, which made the distinction between Years 11 and 12 much less important than before.
The Douse Trophy is named in recognition of the man who, more than anyone else, got schools debating going in the ACT. Mike Douse came to Canberra in 1970, served as president of the ACTDU for several years until he moved overseas in 1977, and by a mixture of enormous energy and a magnetic personality, laid the foundations of ACT School Debating that was both broadly based and of a very high standard. Under his coaching, the ACT team became one of the top three national schools debating teams with NSW and Queensland, a remarkable achievement for a city with just twenty-four teams in its competitions in 1974!
The Ford Trophy grew out of the Murray Trophy, because the Murray was becoming both impossibly large and also very diverse with students from Year 7 to Year 10 in one competition. In keeping with the practice of naming trophies after successive ACTDU Presidents, this trophy is named after Margaret Ford, President in 1977, who laid the groundwork for the junior school trophy.
Today the ACT has proportionally more school debaters than any other city in the world. In absolute numbers the ACT has as many teams in its competitions than in the entire English national competition!"
[edit] History of World Schools
"In 1988, Canberra hosted the inaugural World Schools Debating Championships, with teams from the USA, England, New Zealand, Canada and Hong Kong as well as Australia. The Grand Final, in Canberra's Old Parliament House, saw Canada narrowly edge out Australia. The debates in Canberra were unquestionably the finest school debates this country has ever seen, and are still remembered by those who saw them." "...the whole idea of a World Championship was dreamed up over drinks at a Canberra Pub by Chris Erskine, Russell Gesling and Desmond Manderson in 1986. The pub's no longer there, but they should put a plaque up next to the spot in honour of the occasion."
[edit] ACTDU committee
Current Committee members are:
- President- Matt Laing
- Schools Liaison- Sarah Lynch
- Coaching administrator- Jeremy Farrell
- Secretary- Marija Taflaga
- Adjudications officer- James Robertson
- Regional Coaches:
- Jeremy Farrell
- Marija Taflaga
- Daniel Higginbottom
- ACT Coaches: Andrew Chapman & Claudia Newman-Martin
[edit] ACT Schools Debating Team
As the ACT affiliate of the Australian Debating Federation, the ACTDU is responsible for sending an ACT team to the Australian Debating Championships, a debating tournament held annually between the eight Australian States and Territories. A volunteer Coach and Assistant Coach select and train the ACT Schools Debating Team.
The best debaters from the Australian Debating Championships are selected to form the Australian Team to represent Australia at the World Schools Debating Championship.
The members of the ACT Schools Debating Teams since 2000 are listed below.
1999:
- Finish: ?
- Madeline Moss (St Clares) (year 12)
2000: Melbourne, Victoria
- Finish: Winners
- Tristan Burt (Canberra Grammar School) Member of the Australian Team (year 12)
- Patrick Delaney (Canberra Grammar School) (year 12)
- Kirsty McLaren (Radford College) (year 11)
- Emily Byrne (Erindale College) (year 12)
Reserves:
- Rob Lancaster (Canberra Grammar School) (year 11)
- Yi Hua Lu (Narrabundah College) (year 11)
- Coach: Harry Greenwell
- Assistant Coach: Nick Wood
2001: Sydney, New South Wales
- Finish: Semi-finalists
- Kirsty McLaren (Radford College) (year 12)
- Jenny Bowles (Canberra Girls' Grammar School) (year 11)
- Rob Lancaster (Canberra Grammar School) (year 12)
- Clare Carnell (Canberra Girls' Grammar School) (year 12)
Reserves:
- Genevieve Burt (Narrabundah College)
- Rory Markham (Canberra Grammar School) (year 11)
- Coach: Nick Wood
- Assistant Coach: Harry Greenwell
- Assistant Coach (tournament only): Bek Hamed
2002: Adelaide, South Australia
- Finish: Winners
- Jenny Bowles (Canberra Girls Grammar School) Member of the Australian Team (year 12)
- Julia Fetherstone (Canberra Girls Grammar School) (year 10)
- James Robertson (Canberra Grammar School) (year 10)
- Toby Halligan (Radford College) (year 12)
Reserves:
- Simone Gubler (Narrabundah College) (year 11)
- Dom Cookman (Canberra Grammar School) (year 12)
- Coach: Paul Barnsley
- Assistant Coach: Rose Driscoll
2003: Brisbane, Queensland
- Finish: Second Semi
- Julia Fetherstone (Canberra Girls Grammar School) Member of the Australian Team (year 11)
- James Robertson (Narrabundah College) Member of the Australian Team (reserve) (year 11)
- Duncan Kauffman (Radford College) (year 11)
- Simone Gubler (Narrabundah College) (year 12)
Reserves:
- James Rumsey (Narrabundah College) (year 11)
- Em Bek (Hawker College) (year 12)
- Coach: Paul Barnsley
- Assistant Coach: Patrick Delaney
2004: Perth, Western Australia
- Finish: 5th
- Julia Fetherstone (Canberra Girls Grammar School) Member of the Australian Team (year 12)
- James Robertson (Narrabundah College) Member of the Australian Team (reserve) (year 12)
- Duncan Kauffman (Radford College) (year 12)
- Daniel Higginbottom (TCCW) (year 10)
Reserves:
- Nina Gubler (Narrabundah College) (year 11)
- Claudia Newman-Martin (St Clares College) (year 12)
- Coach: Mathew Kenneally
- Assistant Coach: Madeline Moss
2005: Hobart & Launceston, Tasmania
- Finish: 7th
- Daniel Higgimbottom (TCCW) (year 11)
- Cameron Winnett (Canberra Grammar School) (year 11)
- Jimmy Bai (Canberra Grammar School) (year 11)
- Michaela Flanagin (Hawker College) (year 11)
Reserves:
- Rhadika (Narrabundah College) (year 11)
- David Still (Canberra Grammar School) (year 11)
- Coach: Emily Byrne
- Assistant Coach: Madeline Moss
2006: Darwin, Northern Territory
- Finish: 6th
- Daniel Higgimbottom (TCCW) (year 12)
- Cameron Winnett (Canberra Grammar School) (year 12)
- Michaela Flanagin (Hawker College) (year 12)
- Rhadika (Narrabundah College) (year 12)
Reserves:
- Paulette Lo (Radford College) (year 10)
- Anthony Tridgell (Canberra Grammar School) (year 10)
- Laura Birchell (St Clares College) (year 9)
- Kris (St Edmunds College) (year 12)
- Coach: Emily Byrne
- Assistant Coach: Toby Halligan
2007: Melbourne Victoria
- Finish: N/A
- Laura Birchell (St Clares) (year 10)
- Paulette Lo (Radford College) (year 11)
- Robert Selth (Canberra Grammar school) (year 11)
- Shelley Verma (Hawker College) (year 12)
- Anthony Tridgell (Canberra Grammar School) (year 11)
- Samantha Bobo (Lyneham High School) (year 10)
- Coach: Claudia Newman-Martin
- Assistant Coach: Andrew Chapman
