Ted Gill Prepared Speech

History

Ted Gill was a Tawa Valley resident who is remembered for his love of public speaking and the fellowship of other speakers. Though residing in what one contemporary describes as 'and old hut', Ted would pour his rich skills into researching for debates at the library and encouraging others. When he died, two of his friends donated this trophy to the union in his memory.

The following text comes from an article written by Ben O'Connor and published in Wellngton's "Evening Post" on 21 June 1976.

"Public speaking did not make Ted Gill rich, successful, powerful or a great orator. But it did fill at least part of a void in a lonely, unusual life.

Ted lived in a car packing case out Tawa way. He died in the same packing case though such was the proud individuality of his life style, that neighbors did not discover his body for three days after his death six years ago [1970], at the age of 82.

Ted was a gas victim of the First World War, a Depresion-era trade unionist who figured he had been maltreated by his fellows. He had a hankering for poetry though some of the more critical might have called it doggerel.

He completed the WEA [Workers' Educational Association] class [this probably refers to classes in public speaking conducted by Jim Milburn] and joined the Wellington Speakers' Club where he found a few kindred souls, some almost in his own age group, who liked ... to discuss the deeper things of life. Sometimes Ted really impressed with his speeches, laced as they would be with philosophy and verse.

Club speaking night was a big occassion for Ted, an important thing in his life.

Saturday night was also an important one. He used to have dinner with one of the few families he knew.

Some Sundays he would help a selected few in their gardens.

The rest of the time was spent either in the Public Library or in his spare but neat packing case home lined with newspapers, surrounded by neatly piled clippings and books, some of which he read, not all of which he understood.

Then there was the bath he used to have at the [Wellington] Railway Station.

Ted didn't like anyone to visit him as "home".

There was something tragic about Ted. He had little education in his native Nelson, [he had been a] a builder's labourer in Wellington and was proud of his contribution to the Hotel St. George and the Exhibition Building.

He was custodian of the Star Boating Club over the [Second World] War years. He had acquired no skills in the formal way, but he liked to tell how he could build a stronger fence [and] dig a straighter trench than the next fellow.

Ted had a gentle sense of communion with the plants and trees of the garden.

Always neat, Ted never lost his pride in himself, as others in his situation might have done.

Opinion on him varied. The insensitive were impatient with him. But most had affection for the old man who hardly ever missed a meeting.

Two people prominent in public speaking [now understood to be Ben O'Connor and Jim Milburn] felt that Ted, with all his eccentricities, his persecution complex ... represented something fundamental in the world of communication.

At times Ted seemed almost to be approaching some great truth, but he never quite made it.

He grew a little with his speaking, became more fluent, more tolerant, happier. And he retained his interest right to the end.

That's why the two presented a trophy in his honour and called it the "Ted Gill Trophy - Presented by "Two Friends"".

Rules

2. The order of speaking shall be determined by lot.

3. The duration of the speeches shall not be less than six minutes, nor more than eight minutes. Any competitor who speaks for less than six minutes shall be disqualified. Adjudicators shall be required to deduct marks from contestants who, in their opinion, fail to conclude their speech within a reasonable time after the final bell has sounded.

4. There shall be a warning bell at six minutes and two bells at eight minutes to signal the expiration of time.

5. The use of notes shall be permitted.

6. Interjections shall not be permitted.

7. Previous winners of this contest, The McDonald Oratory Contest and the Kitts Trophy Contest for Impromptu Speaking, shall be ineligible to enter.

Past Winners