Roaming Tiger, <em>The West Australian</em>, 12 December 1953
Aesop, Androcles, animals, anthropomorphism, coat of arms, circus, courage, emblem, fables, folklore, gratitude, honour, lion, loyalty, medieval romance, Narrandera, New South Wales, NSW, popular culture, Reynard the Fox, Red Riding Hood, Remus, she-wolf, stories, story-tellers, symbolism, tiger, wolf.
This interest piece from <em>The West Australian</em> in 1953 discusses the symbolic use of animals in roman legends and medieval fables, and their anthropomorphic investment with human characteristics. Using an incident in New South Wales where a circus tiger wandered into a neighbouring house and licked a sleeping child as their impetus, the author claims that animal stories have been popular since the days of Aesop. Amongst other examples, they note that in medieval stories about Reynard the Fox, he was usually depicted as a genial, roguish hero, and that the writers of medieval romances regularly employed the lion to symbolise courage and honour.
C. R. Collins
National library of Australia: <a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article49605228" target="_self">http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article49605228</a>
<em>The West Australian</em>
12 December 1953, p.33
Copyright Expired
Newspaper Article
‘Because of her Father’s Blood’, <em>The Bulletin</em>, 25 June 1908
‘As It Is in the Days of Now,’ ‘The Old Squire,’ ancestry, bravery, courage, Dame Ruth, forebears, Henry Lawson (1867-1922), knight, loyalty, outlaws, poem, Sir William series, war.
Henry Lawson produced several interrelated medieval poems c. 1908 which <em>The Bulletin</em> published. ‘Because of her Father’s Blood’ is the third poem of the Sir William series. While the knight is away crusading his aunt, Dame Ruth, is left to keep things in good order at home. This is a poignantly nostalgic poem of courage arising from dire and severe need, wherein an elderly lady and a handful of domestic servants keep a large and rapacious band of outlaws at bay ‘against all the odds.’ There is something to be said, it seems, for resolute and purposeful determination under duress. That is the core message here, where ordinary men and women - domestics, scullions and grooms, none of them martial or overly brave - combine together under the considerable will and fierce determination of Dame Ruth, and heroic deeds are enacted as a result. Looking to her illustrious forebears provides the catalyst for Dame Ruth’s heroism and bravery: “For a fearsome mistress she was to serve, / Because of her father’s blood.” And, extending and applying this ‘medievalist’ performative metaphor to the national cause, loyalty and bravery are strongly emblematic of Australia’s attitude towards and defence of the British Empire in its foreign wars.
Henry Lawson
The Bulletin
The Bulletin
25 June 1908, p.43
Public Domain
Journal Article
The Great War Memorial Cross, St. Peter's Cathedral, Adelaide, South Australia
Adelaide, armor, armour, bravery, cathedral, chivalric, chivalry, commemoration, courage, cross, Crusades, gallantry, Great War, halo, honour, knight, lance, medieval iconography, memorial, mosaic, noble cause, saints, SA, shield, soldier, South Australia, St George cross, St Peter’s Cathedral, sword, virtue, warrior, World War I, WWI, St. Peter, Saint Peter, St Peter
Image of the colourful mosaic in the centre of a Great War Memorial Cross situated in the grounds of St Peter’s Cathedral in Adelaide, South Australia. The mosaic depicts a warrior armed with a shield and a lance, and draws on a number of different symbolic references to represent WWI soldiers as courageous, brave and righteous fighters. The tunic and the armour look classical, but the lance, the shield and the halo are distinctively medieval. The shield bearing the St George cross is reminiscent of those carried by knights during the Crusades, while the lance, an instrument used by jousting knights in the High Middle Ages, suggests gallantry, chivalry and honour. The halo encircling the figure’s head is a common iconographic motif in medieval depictions of saints, and the white cloak has likely also been added to symbolise virtue and righteousness.
Dorey, Margaret
3 July 2011
No Copyright
Digital Photograph; JPEG
The Great War Memorial Cross at St Peter’s Cathedral, Adelaide.
Adelaide, armor, armour, bravery, cathedral, chivalric, chivalry, commemoration, courage, cross, Crusades, gallantry, Great War, halo, honour, knight, lance, medieval iconography, memorial, mosaic, noble cause, saints, SA, shield, soldier, South Australia, St George cross, St Peter’s Cathedral, sword, virtue, warrior, World War I, WWI, St. Peter, Saint Peter, St Peter
An image of a Great War Memorial Cross situated in the grounds of St Peter’s Cathedral in Adelaide, South Australia. The colourful mosaic in the centre of the cross depicts a warrior armed with a shield and a lance, and draws on a number of different symbolic references to represent WWI soldiers as courageous, brave and righteous fighters. The tunic and the armour look classical, but the lance, the shield and the halo are distinctively medieval. The shield bearing the St George cross is reminiscent of those carried by knights during the Crusades, while the lance, an instrument used by jousting knights in the High Middle Ages, suggests gallantry, chivalry and honour. The halo encircling the figure’s head is a common iconographic motif in medieval depictions of saints, and the white cloak has likely also been added to symbolise virtue and righteousness.
Dorey, Margaret
3 July 2011
No Copyright
Digital Photograph; JPEG