It is now 125 years since the first competitions were held, but this month we are also celebrating 137 years since South Street was first established as The Young Men’s General Debating Society on 10 July 1879.
The Society made up of eight young men proposed to meet every Friday night and indulge their passion for debating and kindred subjects in a cottage belonging to the mother of its first president, William D. Hill, at 31 South Street, Ballarat.
