Magna Carta scene, Royal Clock, Queen Victoria Building, Sydney
Barons, chain-mail, diorama, Stephen Langton, Magna Carta, Neil Glasser, John I, New South Wales, NSW, QVB, Queen Victoria Building, Royal Clock, spear, Sydney, Thwaites and Reed
The diorama of King John I (1166-1216) signing Magna Carta in 1215 is one of six revolving scenes devoted to English royalty that appear on the hour in the Royal Clock in Sydney’s Queen Victoria Building. The clock was designed by Neil Glasser and made by Thwaites and Reed in Hastings, England. In the scene John is shown sitting on a throne flanked by guards with spears and signing the document surrounded by the English barons (in chain-mail) who had revolted against him and the Archbishop of Canterbury Stephen Langton (1150-1228).
The signing of Magna Carta is considered an moment in the history of western democracy. Australia owns a medieval copy of Magna Carta, which is on display in Parliament House, Canberra.
McLeod, Shane
29 December 2012
No Copyright
Digital Photograph; JPEG
Interview with H.R.H Prince Leonard I, from Mick Joffe’s Endangered Characters of Australia
Astronomy, Australian government, Bill of Rights, constitutional law, H.R.H Prince Leonard I, H.R.H. Princess Shirley, heraldry, Hutt River Province, independent sovereign state, Indiana University, knight, knighthood, law, legal principle, Leonard I, Leonard George Casley (b.1925), Magna Carta, medieval law, Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543), parliament, peerage, physics, Principality of Hutt River, regalia, Royal College of heraldry, secession, WA, Western Australia, Wheat Quota
<p>An interview and caricature of H.R.H. Prince Leonard I of Hutt River wearing his royal regalia, by Australian caricaturist Mick Joffe. The Principality of Hutt River is located 595km north of Perth in Western Australia. It comprises an area of approximately 18, 500 acres of farmland and is ruled as an independent sovereign nation by Prince Leonard I and his wife Princess Shirley. Following a dispute over damaging new Wheat Quotas introduced by the Australian government in 1969, and subsequent laws to enforce them, WA farmer Leonard George Casley seceded from Australia in April 1970. He based his legal argument for secession on a number of legal principles and laws, including medieval laws such as Magna Carta, the Statute of Westminster and the 1496 Treason Act. As he explains to Mick Joffe during this interview, “The Government had no right to take anyone’s ability to make a living or to take their land without compensation. These rights Australia inherited from the Bill of Rights and the Magna Carta”. Prince Leonard also established his own College of Heraldry in the Principality of Hutt River, and estimates that (as of 1995) he had bestowed approximately 200 peerages and knighthoods. For more on the Principality of Hutt River or the Royal College of Heraldry, see: <a href="http://www.hutt-river-province.com/" target="_blank">http://www.hutt-river-province.com/</a></p>
<p>Furthermore, Prince Leonard I declares an ongoing interest in the science of gravity, relativity and physics, and established a Royal College of Advanced Research in the Principality of Hutt River. During this interview Joffe cites feedback that Casley received from the Department of Astronamy [sic] at Indiana University in 1963 regarding papers he published on Relativity and the Solar system. The letter suggests that he may have “made the first fundamental contribution in this field since Copernicus” (For a copy of this letter, see R.C. Hyslop, <em>The Man: His Royal Highness Prince Leonard, Sovereign of the Hutt River Province Principality (An Independent Sovereign State),</em> Publication Printers, West Perth, [1979], p.12). Copernicus was a Renaissance mathematician and astronomer who proposed the heliocentric model of cosmology whereby the sun remains stationary and is orbited by the Earth. Copernicus is often credited with starting the Scientific Revolution.</p>
Joffe, Mick
<span><span style="color: #000000; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Mick Joffe Caricatures: <a href="http://www.mickjoffe.com/" target="_blank">http://www.mickjoffe.com/</a></span></span></span>
Interview 1995; online publication 2010
© Mick Joffe
Hyperlink
English
Commoners Invoked Magna Carta
Administrative system, Archbishop Stephen Langton, barons, boroughs, British Commonwealth, Bruton School, Charter, church, cities, commoners, commonwealth, Crown, crusades, feudal system, free trial, Great Charter (1215), human rights, inspeximus copy, judicial system, justice, King John (r.1199-1216), law, legal judgement, liberty, Library Committee, Lincoln Cathedral, Magna Carta, medieval law, medieval people, merchants, National Library, parliament, Professor Murdoch, rights, Robert Fitzwalter (d.1235), subjects, towns, trial by ordeal, United States, villein, weights and measures, William de Braioise
In this article rebutting criticisms levelled at the Australian Government for its decision to purchase an inspeximus copy (1297) of Magna Carta in 1952, the author begins by reminding readers that the important medieval document would be placed on display in the National Library, where it could be viewed by members of the public. He goes on to explain the significance of Magna Carta, stating that it did not function merely to protect the rights of barons as was often thought, but also those of ‘the Church, merchants, cities, towns and boroughs’. Additionally, he continues, it set up a judicial and administrative system and established precedents to guarantee the liberty of all subjects. Examples are then provided to support the author’s claim that medieval people recognised the wider remit of Magna Carta, including that of a villein who invoked the Charter to sue a Prior and a tenant’s widow who invoked it against an Earl.
Kim E. Beazley, M.H.R.
The West Australian
The West Australian
13 September 1952, p 2.
National Library of Australia
Newspaper Article
English
No Risks with Magna Carta
Acquisition, Australian Parliament, Canberra, charter, Commonwealth Investigations Branch, constitution, constitutional law, government, Bill of Rights, Great Charter (1215), inspeximus, King Edward I (r.1272-1307), King John (r.1199-1216), law, Magna Carta, medieval document, medieval government, medieval law, medieval parliament, medieval statute, parliament, Parliament House, statute
In 1952, the Australian government purchased an inspeximus copy of Magna Carta from the reign of Edward I. This document confirmed and re-enacted the main provisions of the Great Charter signed by King John in 1215, and was enacted by parliament in 1297. This brief notice in the Sunday Times informs readers that the medieval document had arrived in Australia and had been transported to Parliament House, where it would be kept in the vault.
Anon.
National Library of Australia
The Sunday Times
30 November 1952, p. 8
The Sunday Times
Newspaper Article
English
Replica of Magna Carta Here
Acquisition, Australian government, Bruton, Canberra, charter, constitution, constitutional law, government, Great Charter (1215), inspeximus, King Edward I (r.1272-1307), King John (r.1199-1216), King’s School, Latin, law, Magna Carta, medieval document, medieval government, medieval law, medieval parliament, medieval statute, National Library, ocean liner, Orcades, statute, vellum
In 1952, the Australian government paid £15,600 to secure the purchase of an inspeximus copy of Magna Carta from the reign of Edward I. This document confirmed and re-issued the main provisions of the Great Charter signed by King John in 1215, and was enacted by parliament in 1297. This article in The West Australian informs readers of the document’s arrival in Sydney and of plans to transfer it to Canberra the following day, where it would be housed in the National Library. Some additional details are provided about the acquisition, including information that it was purchased from King’s School in Bruton, that it is one of only two copies, and that it is written in Latin on a vellum skin measuring 20x16.5 inches.
Anon.
National Library of Australia
The West Australian
29 November 1952, p.4
The West Australian
Newspaper Article
English
Magna Carta
Angevin Kings, anniversary, British Museum, Charter, citizens, classroom, law, constitution, legal, constitutional law, Dover Castle, fair trial, Great Charter (1215), Great Seal, King John (r.1199-1216), Lincoln Cathedral, Magna Carta, medieval law, medieval statute, Norman Kings, Runnimede, Salisbury Cathedral, school lessons, significance, State high schools, statute, Rule of Law
On the seven hundred and twentieth anniversary of the first issue of Magna Carta (in 1215), this article in the Western Mail outlines the charter’s significance for English history and notes that special lessons had been delivered in Australian State high schools in recognition of its importance. The article begins by suggesting that the Great Charter differed only in degree from the previous charters of Norman and Angevin Kings, but then goes on to draw particular attention to the Magna Carta’s role in outlining the mutual obligations of the King and his feudal vassals, in removing weirs from rivers to facilitate inland transport, and in affording to all classes of freemen the right to a fair trial. The article also describes the location and state of the four surviving copies of the charter bearing the Great Seal of King John, including two in the British Museum and one each in the Lincoln and Salisbury Cathedrals.
Anon.
National Library of Australia
The West Australian
15 June 1935, p. 11
The West Australian
Newspaper Article
English
An Address On the Occasion of the Naming of Magna Carta Place, Langton Crescent, Canberra
Magna Carta, speech, address, naming, SIr Gerard Brennan, English Law, equity, freedom, Australian law, legal, Canberra, Australian government
An address made by the Hon. Sir Gerard Brennan at the naming of Magna Carta Place in Canberra. He justifies the naming by arguing that the Magna Carta and the ideologies it represents contribute to the creation of a valuable and "enduring myth [in Australian] lives and...law."
Brennan, Hon. Sir Gerard
High Court of Australia
12 October 1997
High Court of Australia
Hyperlink; Address/Speech
English