For a close up of the St George and the dragon sculpture see http://ausmed.arts.uwa.edu.au/items/show/1212
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The 1886 malt kiln of the Esk Brewery of James Boag and Son (Boag’s Brewery) is in the northern Tasmanian city of Launceston. The façade is in the Queen Anne architectural style and includes a number of medieval features, such as buttresses, corner towers, and Romanesque semi-circular arches. The medieval aspects of the building are enhanced by the bas relief sculpture of St George and the dragon. St George is depicted as a medieval knight wearing armour and a helmet and sword. He is riding a horse which is trampling a winged dragon.
For a close up of the St George and the dragon sculpture see http://ausmed.arts.uwa.edu.au/items/show/1212
For the malt kiln see http://ausmed.arts.uwa.edu.au/items/show/1216
For other depictions of St George by Boag’s Brewery see http://ausmed.arts.uwa.edu.au/items/show/989
http://ausmed.arts.uwa.edu.au/items/show/886
http://ausmed.arts.uwa.edu.au/items/show/884
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This sculpture of St George and the Dragon is at the top of the 1886 malt kiln of Boag’s Brewery in the northern Tasmanian city of Launceston. St George is depicted as a medieval knight wearing armour and a helmet with an open visor and a feather plume. He rides a horse and carries a sword. His horse is trampling a winged dragon.
For the malt kiln see http://ausmed.arts.uwa.edu.au/items/show/1216
For other depictions of St George by Boag’s Brewery see http://ausmed.arts.uwa.edu.au/items/show/989
http://ausmed.arts.uwa.edu.au/items/show/886
http://ausmed.arts.uwa.edu.au/items/show/884
For the article see http://nishi.slv.vic.gov.au/latrobejournal/issue/latrobe-81/t1-g-t4.html
]]>‘‘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.
For the article see http://nishi.slv.vic.gov.au/latrobejournal/issue/latrobe-81/t1-g-t4.html
For the advertisement see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXXifVGU8Lk
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This advertisement is for the Launceston, Tasmania, brewing company James Boag’s ‘St George’ beer. The slogan of the commercial is ‘Gallantry is back’, which plays on one of the attributes associated with St George, that of honour. In medieval chivalric culture St George was also depicted as showing great chivalry towards women, and this is the notion found in the advertisement. The advertisement concludes with the logo of a mounted St George coming to life and trampling a dragon underfoot.
For the advertisement see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXXifVGU8Lk
More information about the beer can be found at http://www.classicblonde.com.au/#/brands/stgeorge/regular/background/
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The Launceston, Tasmania, brewing company James Boag has a ‘St George’ beer. The bottle’s label features St George on a horse and carrying a sword trampling a dragon underfoot. This was one of the original logos of the brewery and has been used since 1883. The Boag’s website states that St George symbolises ‘strength, honour and courage’. Although the mounted figure depicts a more historic St George, who was a Roman soldier, than most other images, the tale of St George fighting a dragon is thought to have been brought to Western Europe by crusaders returning from the Holy Lands in the eleventh century.
More information about the beer can be found at http://www.classicblonde.com.au/#/brands/stgeorge/regular/background/
About New Norcia:
New Norcia is a monastic town located 132 km north of Perth in Western Australia. The town is owned and run by a community of Benedictine monks and houses one of only three Benedictine monasteries (for men) in Australia. At its height the monastery housed approximately 80 monks, but currently there are only seven in residence. The Benedictines are part of a religious order within the Catholic Church known as the Order of St Benedict (OSB). Benedictines live in small, largely autonomous communities and base their way of life on the Rule of St Benedict, which prioritises a balance of prayer and work and calls for promises of stability, obedience and a conversion of life. The first Benedictine community was established in the sixth-century in Italy by St Benedict of Nursia (c.480-547).
Originally intended as a mission to evangelise and educate the indigenous peoples of the Victoria Plains, the site at New Norcia was founded in 1847 by two Spanish Benedictine missionaries, Dom José Benito Serra and Dom Rosendo Salvado. Serra’s involvement in the missionary activities at new Norcia decreased following his appointment as Co-adjutor Bishop of Perth in 1849, while Salvado (1814-1900) committed himself wholly to developing the mission and leading the monastic community. He subsequently became the key figure in the first 50 years of New Norcia’s history. He made numerous fundraising trips to Europe, which provided him with the means to purchase books, vestments, artwork and equipment for the community and also to oversee the construction of new buildings. He died in Rome in 1900 and his body was returned to New Norcia. Under Salvado’s successor, Bishop Fulgentius Torres (1861-1914), New Norcia became more like a traditional monastic settlement. An increased focus on education and artistic pursuits led to the establishment of two schools and improvements to many of the town’s buildings. For more information on New Norcia, see the New Norcia Benedictine Community website: http://newnorcia.wa.edu.au/.
]]>Released in 2007, New Norcia Abbey Ale was developed and produced by Chuck Hahn (of the Malt Shovel Brewery) in collaboration with the Benedictine monks at New Norcia. Unlike Trappist beers which are brewed within abbey walls under the control of monks, Abbey Ales are brewed commercially by companies who licence an abbey’s name. Interested in the historical association of monks and brewing, which dates from the medieval period, Hahn negotiated with the monks at New Norcia to produce an Abbey Ale for them. A sample brew of the Belgian golden style ale was delivered to New Norcia for tasting in 2006 and, according to the story provided by promotional literature and on New Norcia’s website, “following the ancient Benedictine protocol, the monks voted to approve the use of their name on the Ale”. This ancient protocol possibly refers to Chapter III of the Rule of St Benedict, which mandates that “as often as any important business has to be done in the monastery, let the Abbot call together the whole community and himself set forth the matter”. See The Rule of Saint Benedict in Latin and English, edited and translated by Abbot Justin McCann, Monk of Ampleforth, 3rd Edition, The Newman Press, Westminster, 1963.
About New Norcia:
New Norcia is a monastic town located 132 km north of Perth in Western Australia. The town is owned and run by a community of Benedictine monks and houses one of only three Benedictine monasteries (for men) in Australia. At its height the monastery housed approximately 80 monks, but currently there are only seven in residence. The Benedictines are part of a religious order within the Catholic Church known as the Order of St Benedict (OSB). Benedictines live in small, largely autonomous communities and base their way of life on the Rule of St Benedict, which prioritises a balance of prayer and work and calls for promises of stability, obedience and a conversion of life. The first Benedictine community was established in the sixth-century in Italy by St Benedict of Nursia (c.480-547).
Originally intended as a mission to evangelise and educate the indigenous peoples of the Victoria Plains, the site at New Norcia was founded in 1847 by two Spanish Benedictine missionaries, Dom José Benito Serra and Dom Rosendo Salvado. Serra’s involvement in the missionary activities at new Norcia decreased following his appointment as Co-adjutor Bishop of Perth in 1849, while Salvado (1814-1900) committed himself wholly to developing the mission and leading the monastic community. He subsequently became the key figure in the first 50 years of New Norcia’s history. He made numerous fundraising trips to Europe, which provided him with the means to purchase books, vestments, artwork and equipment for the community and also to oversee the construction of new buildings. He died in Rome in 1900 and his body was returned to New Norcia. Under Salvado’s successor, Bishop Fulgentius Torres (1861-1914), New Norcia became more like a traditional monastic settlement. An increased focus on education and artistic pursuits led to the establishment of two schools and improvements to many of the town’s buildings. For more information on New Norcia, see the New Norcia Benedictine Community website: http://newnorcia.wa.edu.au/.