A Viking's Sword
Brisbane, burial, England, Norseman, The Queenslander, raiding, ship, ships, swords, sword, QLD, Queensland, sacrifice, Sweden, Viking, warfare, war, battle, battles, weapon, weapons, weaponry
A highly romanticised article on page 46 of the Brisbane newspaper The Queenslander on 17 May, 1934. The article reports on a male Viking warrior grave uncovered in Sweden. Among the various grave-goods found was a sword made in England. This leads the author to create a highly speculative account of a Viking raid on England and the sword being ‘taken from the dead hand of one who fell defending his home’. Other goods found accompanying this member of the ‘sea wolves’ included a horse, dog, a possible slave, gaming pieces and a possible slave. The article also mentions the ‘savage gods’ that the man was likely to worship and his preference to die abroad in battle. The article is a good example of the romantic speculation that the Vikings seem to encourage.
Anon.
National Library of Australia
The Queenslander
24 May 1934
No Copyright
Newspaper Article; PDF
English
‘‘Thingless Names’? The St George Legend in Australia’
Article, beer, commercial, dragon, La Trobe Journal, Andrew Lynch, Perth, poetry, rugby, St George, St George Illawarra Dragons, St George’s Cathedral, stained glass windows, statue, ‘‘Thingless Names’? The St George Legend in Australia’, The University of Western Australia.
<p>‘‘Thingless Names’? The St George Legend in Australia’ is an article by Andrew Lynch from The University of Western Australia. It appeared in the La Trobe Journal (No. 81, pp. 40-52) in Autumn 2008. The article briefly considers the impact of medievalism in Australia during the nineteenth century before focussing in particular on the many uses of the figure of St George, with or without the dragon, which can be found throughout Australia. A wide range of examples, including statues, stained glass windows, street names, poetry, beer commercials, St George Illawarra Dragons rugby club, are used, and there is a particular focus on St George’s Cathedral in Perth. </p>
<p>For the article see <a href="http://nishi.slv.vic.gov.au/latrobejournal/issue/latrobe-81/t1-g-t4.html" target="_self">http://nishi.slv.vic.gov.au/latrobejournal/issue/latrobe-81/t1-g-t4.html</a></p>
Lynch, Andrew
La Trobe Journal
Autumn 2008
Andrew Lynch; La Trobe Journal; State Library of Victoria
Journal article; Hyperlink
‘Alfred Was Great King’
Alfred the Great, Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Charters Towers, Danes, education, England, King Alfred, law, literature, navy, The Northern Miner, Old English Chronicle, Qld, Queensland, Vikings, Wessex.
<p>‘Alfred Was Great King’ is an anonymous article that appeared in the Charters Towers, Queensland, newspaper <em>The Northern Miner</em> in 1954. The article is about the ninth-century Anglo-Saxon/English king Alfred of Wessex, or Alfred the Great. The article enthusiastically supports his title and discusses Alfred’s achievements – saving Wessex from Danish (Viking) invaders, laying the foundations for English law, beginning its naval tradition, and promoting education and prose literature. A lot of text is devoted to another of Alfred’s achievements, the establishment of the Old English Chronicle, now usually referred to as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. It is described in the article as ‘the first great work in English prose’. </p>
<p>The article can be found at <a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article81658763">http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article81658763</a> </p>
Anon.
The Northern Miner
February 6, 1954
Public Domain
Newspaper article; hyperlink
‘An I.O.G.T. Idyll’
Crusades, doggerel, idyll, I.O.G.T., drunkenness, military order, Order of Knights Templar, Order of the Temple, sobriety, Soldiers of Christ, templar, templar knights, temperance, temperance society, The International Order of Good Templars
This amusing temperance ‘ditty’ describes the adventures of “a burly Templar chief†whose carefree night of drinking turns out to be more than he expected or bargained for. The I.O.G.T. was a temperance society (The International Order of Good Templars). There were people from all walks of life and religious persuasions involved in the temperance movement in 1880s Australia, Britain, America and Sweden. Presumably the I.O.G.T. hierarchy viewed themselves as crusader knights fighting the “Good Fight,†and clearly a good fight was one that ended well for ‘true believers’ and badly for their foes (i.e. ‘winebibbers’, ‘publicans’ and ‘sinners). However, it should be noted that the Order of Knights Templar, a powerful military order and charitable organisation in the Middle Ages, was never actually forbidden the use of wine, and occasionally instances of over-indulgence were recorded (See Dominic Selwood, Knights of the Cloister: Templars and Hospitallers in central-southern Occitania c.1100-c.1300, Woodbridge, Boydell, 2001, p.205). This oversight reveals the mindset of those who supported the adoption of quasi-medieval terminology and ceremony in the nineteenth-century, without fully appreciating the history and behaviour of those whose names they had chosen to adopt.
Anon.
The Bulletin
The Bulletin
11 November 1882 (p. 8)
Public Domain
Journal (Microfilm)
English
‘Dam(n)pier as Mephistopheles’
Alfred Dampier (1848-1908), cartoon, Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593), devil, Dr Faustus (c. 1590), Faust (I & II), Goethe (1749-1832), ‘Mephisto’, Mephistopheles, Phil May (1864-1903), The Bulletin
‘Dam(n)pier as Mephistopheles,’ is The Bulletin cartoonist Phil May’s humorous pun on actor and theatrical entrepreneur Alfred Dampier’s name (See Louise D'Arcens, Old Songs in the Timeless Land: Medievalism in Australian Literature 1840-1910, Turnhout: Brepols, 2011, p.164). Alfred Dampier first appeared as Mephisto in Faust in 1873 at the Royal theatre, Melbourne. While reasonably successful in his chosen profession (his acting career spanned thirty years), he was generally considered “sound rather than brilliant†by his critics (See, for example: John Rickard, 'Dampier, Alfred (1848–1908)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/dampier-alfred-3360/text5067, accessed 12 June 2012.) Phil May acknowledges Dampier’s competence and durability, albeit with a mischievous gleam in the eye and a knowing flourish of his pen. The literary origins of the legend of Dr Faust date back to the 1580s, and may be based upon a real person who died c. 1540-41 (J. W. Smeed, Faust in Literature, London: Oxford University Press, 1973, pp.1-2).
May, Phil
The Bulletin
The Bulletin
23 October 1886 (p. 7)
Public Domain
Journal (Microfilm)
English
‘Gale rejects Lethal’s ‘serfs’ claim’ online article
AFL, Australian Football League, Australian rules football, Brendon Gale, feudal, Jennifer Witham, Leigh Matthews, Melbourne, online, pay dispute, radio, Richmond, sport, Victoria, website, 3AW
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="line-height: 115%; color: black; font-size: 10pt;" lang="EN-AU">An online article on June 25 reporting comments made by Brendon Gale, Chief Executive of the AFL club Richmond on air at Melbourne radio station 3AW. He was responding to earlier comments by AFL commentator Leigh Matthews that pay claims of players against the AFL was a case of the ‘serfs fighting back’. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="line-height: 115%; color: black; font-size: 10pt;" lang="EN-AU">The article can be found at <a href="http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/117078/default.aspx" target="_blank">http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/117078/default.aspx</a></span></p>
<span style="line-height: 115%; color: black; font-size: 10pt;" lang="EN-AU">A June18, 2011, article by Jennifer Witham about the original comments and an explanation that ‘serfs’ is a medieval term used to describe the lowest group in the feudal system can be found at <a href="http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/116557/default.aspx" target="_blank"> http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/116557/default.aspx</a></span>
Staff writers of the AFL BigPond Network
<a href="http://www.afl.com.au/" target="_blank">www.afl.com.au</a>
<a href="http://www.afl.com.au/" target="_blank">www.afl.com.au</a>
25 June 2011
<a href="http://www.afl.com.au/" target="_blank">www.afl.com.au</a>
Witham, Jennifer , ""Serfs Hit Back" Online Article ," in Medievalism in Australian Cultural Memory, Item #395, <a href="../../../items/show/395">http://ausmed.arts.uwa.edu.au/items/show/395</a>
Online Article
English
‘Golfreise durch’s Outback’ article
Adelaide hills, castle, fantasy, Golf Digest magazine, gothic, Kenneth Lehmann, recreation, towers, turrets, SA, South Australia, Stirling, Victorian gothic, Thorngrove Manor Hotel, Thorngrove, hotel, accommodation, tourism
An article in the German edition of Golf Digest magazine about Thorngrove Manor Hotel in Stirling. As well as highlighting the features of the luxury boutique hotel the article provides information on nearby golf courses. The Kenneth Lehmann building is a fairy tale rendition of a manor house, partly in Victorian gothic style. The rooms, including the Kings Chamber, Queens Chamber, Castle Chamber, and Tower Loft Room, have such medieval features as tapestries, centrally vaulted ceilings, slate floors and fortified stone walls, and the exterior includes turrets and a crenellated tower covered in shingles.
Anon.
<a href="http://thorngrove.com.au/GermanGolfMag.pdf" target="_blank">http://thorngrove.com.au/GermanGolfMag.pdf</a>
Golf Digest Magazine
2010
Golf Digest Magazine
Magazine Article
English
‘Gratuitous Pugnacity’, The Bulletin, 3 March 1888.
Colonies, debt, Federation, free trade, government, internal debts, knight, Knight Henry, Phil May (1864-1903), Sir Henry Parkes, NSW Politics
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">Cartoonist Phil May here encapsulates the main problems of a premature pitch by NSW for Australian Federation. The doughty knight (Sir Henry) is ready to do battle with ‘all and sundry,’ for he needs to pay off (or perhaps unload the responsibility of) his debts. The symbols of his fiscal carelessness are daubed on his surcoat and shield. This was a sticking point in the Federation debate, where the difficult question “Who would take responsibility for the unequal debts and liabilities of the [other] colonies?” frequently arose (See Beverley Kingston, <em>The Oxford History of Australia: Glad, Confident Morning 1860-1900</em>, vol. 3, Oxford: OUP, 1993, p. 56). Indeed, this question was still being debated at the 1910 elections (See, for example: </span><a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15142572" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15142572</span></a><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">). While Sir Henry is keen to push forward, the female figure in the cartoon - ‘That State House’ - wears mourning black and remains unconvinced, for it is she who will have to find the money and manage things should the need arise. The State House in question is most likely the Senate, the then much debated Upper House of the projected Federal Parliament (See R. C. Baker, <em> Federation</em>, Adelaide: Scrymgour & Sons, 1897, p. 4).</span></span>
May, Phil
The Bulletin
The Bulletin
3 March 1888 (p. 13)
No Copyright
Journal (Microfilm)