“Apparently when they got outside the door, having made a huge amount noise, somebody looked and said, ‘Well, what do we do now?’” MUNA organiser Josephine Kelly laughed.

“And that didn’t last long and they came back in. Because it was a bit cold.”

So went the second MUNA held by the Inverell Rotary Club. The event is a scaled-down version of the UN . This year there were 29 pairs of students from 17 schools assigned a country to research. 

They dress in national clothing, clutter up their tables with symbols of their country, and each is assigned on motion to propose, one to second and two oppose.

MUNA is hosted by one of the district 9650 clubs for two years running, and Ms Kelly said this year was even better than last year.

It all began on Friday night when Ms Kelly said after an initial get-together, alliances were formed with avid texting until 3am. 

Russia, represented by Thomas Brasher and Denham Callanan from Wingham High School, proved the ultimate winner and also ‘Most Humourous’ for the weekend of debate, lobby, revolt and several imprisonments. 

“I think we did have one prison-break-out. But it was unfortunate because nobody noticed,” Ms Kelly said.

Rotary members Steve Auld (Mr Ban Ki), Chris Newbigen (Mr Moon), Nigel Brown (Genghis) and Steve Collins (Kevin ’07) shared the role of Secretary General. 

“It’s well worth it when you see what the kids get out of it,” she said. 

“Because they make friendships, that’s number one. They’re introduced to the idea of lobbying, which they take to like a ducks to water.”

Ms Kelly said while there was a lot of humour, there was great evidence of research and understanding. Once their assigned motions were dealt with, the students’ creativity and talent shone even brighter.

“(Debate is) thrown open to the floor, and we had brilliant speakers, who would go up and speak without any preparation,” Ms Kelly said.

“And there was far more of that this year than I’d seen in the past.”

For more on MUNA check out: our say or the photo gallery.