CAT Reporters Farewell Speech

Good evening, my name is Donna Rumpf, and on behalf of the CAT reporters I’d like to welcome everyone. It’s great to see you all here. Thank you for joining us to celebrate the end of an era. We’re overwhelmed by the number of you who are here and we’ve been touched by the good wishes we’ve received from those who can’t be.

When I started with the Court Reporting Bureau, as it then was, on 2 Nov 1988, at the tender age of 19, I had no idea that 25 years later I would still find this profession as exciting and rewarding as I did then. There were about 15 of us who started as reporters on that day not even knowing if we’d passed our final exams the day before or not. But our training was to be very much on the job and in the thick of it. There were no online tutorials to take in those days, no practising out of court until a quality checker input the scores and used a computer program that evaluated us as no longer needing improvement. Sure we needed improvement, but we’d do that in the courtroom, with no audio back-up. We were to be the official record.

We were trained and guided by the wonderful penwriters and – I was going to say older CAT reporters, but if I said that I wouldn’t have a bed in the Barossa*, so I’ll say the more experienced reporters. We’re thrilled that some of those penwriters and reporters could join us tonight. We think of you often and we hope we’ve done you proud as we exit as the last courtroom shorthand writers in Queensland.

In the early days we worked 4 reporters on a court and 3 typists in the smoked-filled transcribing rooms and we’ve certainly had an education. We soon learned to love those two little words “argument ensued”, and the skill then was knowing when to start writing shorthand again, in fear of Justice Dowsett leaning down and saying, “Don’t take this…don’t take this…I said, don’t take this.”

We learned some valuable methods of slowing speakers down; the louder than usual clearing of the throat, the traffic controller approach complete with hand signals for stop and go, and my personal favourite, cocking the head to one side while looking under the lectern, slowly raising the eyebrows and widening the eyes. This occasionally resulted in counsel slowing down, pausing, and ever so discreetly checking that everything was in order under his robes. It had the desired effect of giving one time to catch up without actually stopping the court. And then there’s the quite effective, more direct approach of making eye contact with counsel, pointing your finger and mouthing, “You”, and drawing one’s finger across one’s throat. Yes, you Planning and Environment guys know what we’re talking about.

We’ve learned a little about a lot of different subjects and if you overheard our lunchtime conversations you’d think we were compiling joint expert reports on anything from anatomy, pathology, psychology and surgery to traffic engineering, town planning and sometimes even the law itself. Most such conversations end up being absurd and ridiculous and we laugh at our actual lack of expertise in just about everything.

Over the years we’ve marvelled at your openings, applauded your closings, cringed at some of your questions and snickered at some of the answers you’ve been given. We could give opening remarks to the jury in our sleep, we love hearing “order as per draft”, but we’ve never really warmed to those flowcharts!

We’ve grown up in circuit centres, seeing things a young city girl should never see, but we’ve also had a lot of fun, a lot of fun. A book of our experiences in Queensland Courts would surely be a best seller. Oh, and while I think of it, if any of you really rate yourselves in defamation law, maybe slip Helen Lubke a card before you go.

We haven’t asked for much, just a decent lunch hour now and then, a spelling here and there, and a smile, hello or a wink from the bench or bar table is always appreciated.

When all is said and done, we see ourselves as essential to helping you all do what you do so well every day. We feel we’re an integral part of this whole system and we take great pride in what we do and work really hard to give you a product and a service we hope you’ve found invaluable. The history books will reveal how you manage without us, and maybe you will. We might be gone, but hopefully not forgotten, and who knows, maybe we will work together again — negotiations are ongoing!

We hope we’ve brought some colour and smiles to your courtrooms. We’ve loved being a part of it all and some of you we’ll even miss — all right, most of you. Remember us when you have an interpreter with a thicker accent than the witness, but you know it will be in the transcript, or when you hear the click of high heels on those God awful floors. Maybe send a cheerio over the digital airwaves to any of us who might be transcribing your courts. That would go down really well!

Again, thank you for coming, have a great evening, and we hope to see you soon.

*Ex SRB CAT Reporter Roxane Canning now owns and runs Country Pleasures B&B in the Barossa Valley