‘Lecturer says our Universities are still “Mediaeval”’, <em>The Argus</em>, 7 January 1955
authority, classroom, education, lecturer, lecturing, pedagogy, specialist, teacher, teaching, teaching methods, university, W. A. Townsley.
This article from <em>The Argus</em> in 1955 quotes Mr W. A. Townsley, a lecturer in Political Science, on the outlook of Australian Universities as ‘still mediaeval’. Criticising lecturing on the reasoning that it turns out ‘poorly educated, highly technical specialists’ instead of critical thinkers, Townsley negatively invokes the medieval period to explain the continued use of lecturing as the principal method of university teaching. This, he suggests, is ‘a hangover from medieval times when only very few people were educated’. Implied in this statement is a sense that the medieval period is ‘backwards’ or reactionary, and that progress requires a move away from medieval ideas about, and methods of, teaching.
Anon
TROVE: National Library of Australia, <a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article71688335" target="_self">http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article71688335</a>
<em>The Argus</em>
7 January 1955, p.8
Copyright Expired
Newspaper Article
‘Melbourne Investiture: Honours Conferred with Sword’, <em>The West Australian</em>, 6 November 1937
Accolade, authority, ceremony, chivalry, dubbing, Governor-General, honours, investiture, King’s Coronation Honours, knight, knighthood, letters patent, Lord Gowrie, pageantry, Parliament House, sword.
This article from <em>The West Australian</em> in 1937 reports on a number of new knighthoods awarded as part of the King’s Coronation Honours. For the first time, the article informs readers, the recipients were ‘dubbed’ by the Governor-General, Lord Gowrie, at Parliament House during a ‘ceremony of medieval pageantry’. The ceremony was undertaken with the permission of the King, who was traditionally the only figure with the authority to confer honours with a sword. The act of dubbing involves a light blow to the shoulders of a kneeling recipient with the flat side of a sword. Dubbing is an essential part of the public investiture ceremony and dates to the medieval period.
Anon
TROVE: National Library of Australia, <a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article41446579" target="_self">http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article41446579</a>
<em>The West Australian</em>
6 November 1937, p.18
Copyright Expired
Newspaper Article
The Mace of Parliament
authority, black rod, British Empire, ceremony, cross, crown, custom, decoration, emblem, harp, House of Commons, House of Lords, John Beckett (1984-1964), King, Legislative Assembly, Long Parliament (1653), mace, medieval customs, medieval tradition, Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658), orb, ornamentation, Parliament, parliamentary officials, parliamentary personnel, politician, ritual, rose, royal bodyguard, sergeant, serjeant-at-arms, Speaker, symbol, symbol of office, thistle, tradition, Usher of the Black Rod, Victoria, Victorian House of Parliament, waratah, warfare, weapon, weaponry, weapons
In this article from the Western Argus, the significance and history of the mace in parliamentary proceedings is explained. The author describes the mace used in the Victorian Legislative Assembly as a sceptre surmounted by a cross, an orb and the crown of England. It is also decorated with the waratah flower of Australia, the rose of England, the thistle of Scotland and the harp of Ireland. The symbolic and ceremonial function of the mace in the opening and closing of parliamentary proceedings is explained, and the history of the mace as a weapon of medieval warfare is noted. The article suggests that the association of the mace with parliament is likely to originate from the medieval period: “In medieval England the king appointed a Royal bodyguard of stalwart men, gaudily uniformed, and each bearing a mace. They came to be known as serjeants-at-arms. When Parliament was divided into two Houses – the Commons and the Lords – two serjeants-at-arms were provided from the King’s bodyguard. The institution has survived. With the serjeant-at-arms has remained the mace, not as a weapon but as a symbol of office; and gradually the mace came to be associated with all the ceremonies and customs of the Commonsâ€. The article goes on to explain the traditional rivalry between the House of Commons and the House of Lords concerning the superior authority of the mace or its equivalent in the House of lords, the black rod (in the keeping of The Usher of the Black Rod). Traditional and symbolic rituals involving the mace and the black rod are also described. If the Usher of the Black Rod approaches the House of Commons to summon the Speaker, for example, the door is ceremoniously closed on him and he is required to knock three times and beg admittance. Similarly, the serjeant-at-arms is not permitted to enter the House of Lords without first surrendering the mace to the doorkeeper.
Anon.
National Library of Australia
The Western Argus
12 January 1932, p. 29.
The Western Argus
Digitised Newspaper Article
English