What makes a speech, especially a political speech impactful, memorable and stirring? And why does it always feel so long between those times when we hear a good one? In this episode of Seriously Social, political historian Professor Sean Scalmer joins us to discuss the origins of the stump speech, and what it takes to move hearts and minds with words.

Useful Links

On the Stump: Campaign Oratory and Democracy in the United States, Britain and Australia by Sean Scalmer

Julia Gillard's Misogyny Speech in Full (2012) ABC News

Lieutenant General David Morrison AO ICMI Speakers and Entertainment

Jacqui Lambie delivers emotional speech condemning uni fee rises ABC News

Winston Churchill Speech Before Commons (June 4, 1940) Hanover Education

Australian Election Speeches: Gough Whitlam 1972 Museum of Australian Democracy

Paul Keating speech on impact of European settlement on Indigenous Australia (1992) ABC Australia

Grace Tame and Brittany Higgins address the National Press Club of Australia National Press Club of Australia