“Oyez! Oyez! Oyez!” was the triumphant call heard across the Redland Showgrounds on the weekend as 15 town criers from across Australia and New Zealand bellowed it out for the championship title.
The 25th National Town Crier Championships, hosted by Redland City Council in Queensland, proved to be a resounding success.
“One doesn’t just announce he or she is the town crier. Criers are appointed by their local Mayor and Council,” explained Redland City’s town crier, Max Bissett.
“What people may not know is that the crier used to have quite sombre duties; it was a rather gruesome job. The crier placed people into stocks, escorted the destitute to the workhouse, administered floggings and officiated at hangings, however, no one was to shoot the messenger.”
These days, town criers tend to promote tourism, making a loud noise for their hometown.
The championship unfolded throughout the afternoon and moved into celebrations at Cleveland’s historic Grand View Hotel, Queensland’s oldest licensed hotel, where competitors eagerly awaited the results of the day’s competition.
Mr Bisset, whose hosting duties prevented him from competing in the cries, explained that criers are judged for diction and inflection, bearing and confidence, accuracy and content of their cry, sustained volume and clarity and their costume and scroll.
The Champion of Champions award went Stephen Clarke from Central Coast, New South Wales, who was also awarded Best Cry and Best Dressed.
The Loudest Cry went to Graham Keating from the City of Sydney.
Stephen Clarke’s town crier escort, John Edwards, was awarded Best Dressed Partner, just ahead of Peter Campbell, escort of Judy Campbell who represents two shires – Campaspe Shire, Victoria and Murray Shire, New South Wales.
In the senior section, first place went to Bob Townshend from Southern Downs Regional Council and second place to Fred Krebs of Sandgate District.
Redland City Mayor Karen Williams said it was a pleasure to showcase the Redlands to the town criers who give so much of their time to promote their own home towns.
“We look forward to the town criers spreading the word about how wonderful the Redlands is and congratulate them on their outstanding cries – both about their home towns and the Redlands,” said the Mayor.
“They not only entertained the crowds at RedFest on Saturday, but took time to visit one of our schools and provide students with an insight into a colourful part of history that still continues today in many areas.”
