PORTLAND Secondary College students and sisters Milly and Daisy Bayona have returned from Tasmania after participating in the legacy junior public speaking national finals.

Their public speaking journey has been a long road, starting off with regionals kicking off in Hamilton where Milly placed first and Daisy third.

Next up was Ballarat for state, where they pulled a switcheroo, and Daisy placed first and Milly second.

Finally, they had travelled by plane to Tasmania, Launceston, for national finals.

“We did a few activities on the first day, we got into our accommodation and then we had afternoon tea with the mayor of Launceston,” Milly said.

“He did a speech, we had some refreshments, and that's where we met the eight contestants (including themselves).

“The second day, we went to the Penny Royal which is supposed to have awesome ziplining and rock climbing, but it was raining so we ended up just going on a boat ride, which was undercover.

“Monday was when we had the speaking competition, so we got picked up and we went to Legacy Launceston, and that's when we did our prepared speech and the impromptu speech.

“Our prompt topic was chocolate, it was kind of very general, so we all spoke about different things.”

Daisy used the prompt to speak about mental health and people’s mood for chocolate or lollies.

Milly also spoke about mental health, relating how hard it is to stop eating chocolate to the need for people to take a break once in a while.

Unfortunately for the sisters, despite their skills, neither were placed in the final and the winner was declared a student from St Ignatius College Adelaide.

Second place went to a student from South Australia Roxby Downs area school and third to a Tasmania Scotch Oakburn College student.

“We have a group chat with the other national finalists, and we talk every now and then,” Milly said.

“When the winners came up it made sense, because we had gotten to know these people and their speeches were wonderful.”

Putting aside the loss, their first trip to Tasmania has prompted a return for a holiday, where the girls would like to stay longer and explore the state further.

Another positive for the two is through their journey they had made some history, being the first siblings in competition and the first two students from the same school as state champion and runner up.

The girls public speaking coach Elizabeth Paulet said a wonderful highlight was their Saturday night dinner, where looking down the table she saw the eight contestants in conversation rather than on their phones.

“A huge thank you to legacy for continuing to run it,” she said.

“Thanks to Allan McKinnon, whose part of the Ballarat Legacy - he came over with us to Tasmania and he was just our number one supporter throughout the whole thing,” Milly said.