Looking Back history feature: The Domain stump orator

A children’s temperance demonstration at Circular Quay, Sydney 1894

By MICK ROBERTS ©

THEY travelled the country preaching the evils of drink; colourful characters with the gift of the gab and often with a tale of their remarkable transformation from drunkard to teetotaller – they were the temperance lecturers.
Larger temperance societies, like the Independent Order of Good Templars and the Sons of Temperance, employed men and women to tour colonial settlements, recruiting members, preaching their message of the demon drink, and persuading tipplers to sign a pledge to denounce alcohol.
The teetotalling orators’ efforts resulted in the reformation of many drunkards, with some becoming missionaries, and joining the lecturing circuits, touring colonial Australia and New Zealand.
The two most successful temperance organisations in colonial Australia were The Sons and Daughters of Temperance, and the Independent Order of Good Templars.
The Sons and Daughters of Temperance embraced three distinct branches:…