Dublin Core
Title
‘Melbourniana’, The Bulletin, 23 February 1895
Subject
‘pedigree hunting,’ armor, armour, civic administrator, Edmund Gerald Fitzgibbon 1825-1905, genealogy, lineage, knight, medieval ancestry, Melbourne, Melbourne & Metropolitan Board of Works, Victorian politics, White Knight of Kerry
Description
This is another cheeky comment from Bulletin cartoonist Tom Durkin, directed at the reputedly self-important chairman of the Melbourne & Metropolitan Board of Works, E. G. Fitzgibbon. In the cartoon Fitzgibbon is throwing a temper tantrum over the amount of money that should be allocated to the chairman (i.e. himself). The so-called ‘White Knight of Kerry’ is depicted, as Louise D’Arcens suggests, as “a pompous undersized figure, absurd in his full suit of armour” (Louise D'Arcens, Old Songs in the Timeless Land: Medievalism in Australian Literature 1840-1910, Turnhout: Brepols, 2011, p.24). Additionally, Durkin’s reference to “Councillor Gibbon” implies that FitzGibbon is really plain Edmund Gibbon, and that he has ‘taken on airs and graces’ by adding Fitz (an Anglo-Norman prefix meaning ‘son of’) to bolster his reputation and his claim to medieval ancestry. Fitzgibbon served in his role as chairman of the Board of Works for fourteen years until his death. For more information about him, see Bernard Barrett, 'FitzGibbon, Edmund Gerald (1825–1905)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/fitzgibbon-edmund-gerald-3530/text5439.
Creator
Durkin, Tom
Source
The Bulletin
Publisher
The Bulletin
Date
23 February 1895, (p. 12).
Rights
Public Domain
Format
Journal (microfilm)
Still Image Item Type Metadata
Original Format
Journal (microfilm)