News Archive

Fish, flowers, Latin text and a burning lamp all feature in the University's full heraldic coat of arms.

In our Centenary year, the different designs for crests, shields and the full ‘armorial ensign' are seeing the light of day in the exhibition at the University Club.

But, in the International Office, the complete coat of arms has been on permanent display in the reception area for the about 10 years.

Garry Hendy, Associate Director, International Admissions, said he ordered coat of arms banner to brighten up a blank wall when the office was renovated.

"It looks as though it is an ancient design, but it was actually only designed in 1972," Garry said.

University Archives has an outline drawing of a crest that is believed to be an early design for a coat of arms, but its creator and the date it was drawn remain a mystery.

It was not until 1928 that Rodney Alsop, architect of the earliest buildings on Crawley campus, and Wilson Dobbs created the design of a shield with the motto ‘Seek Wisdom'. It was coloured red, silver, black and gold, and the two books at the top of the shield did not have legible words, just wavy lines.

This design had the head of a suit of armour on top of the shield, with the swan from the shield also standing on top of the helmet.

The following year, UWA's first Vice-Chancellor, Herbert Whitfeld, commissioned George Kruger Gray to design a better version and the helmet with the extra swan disappeared. The shape of the shield was changed and it started to look very like the shield we use today.

Gordon Stephenson was the next designer to make his mark when asked to redesign the shield (often mistakenly called the crest) for the Golden Jubilee celebrations in 1963.

His major change was to replace the wavy lines on the books with Latin text. The book on the right represents the sciences with the words non nisi parendo vincitur or nature is only mastered by obedience to her laws.

The book on the left represents the humanities: literae humaniores or the literature that makes man more civilised and humane.

A few years later, the Senate initiated the registration of the coat of arms with the College of Arms in London.

A full design, including two ‘rampant hake', which represented the Hackett family, the lamp of wisdom, the Seek Wisdom motto and the Stephenson ‘crest' took several years to complete. Blue, green and gold were added to the coat of arms to represent the University's original faculties and, according to the Archives, "red was also included at the Vice-Chancellor's request."

The official coat of arms was registered in 1972, nearly 60 years after the University was founded.

Later that year, William Gardner was commissioned to design a letterhead version of the shield as the full design didn't reproduce well in smaller sizes.  That design is almost identical to the one in use today.

In heraldic terms, the coat of arms is made up of the shield, the crest (the fish, the lamp and the flowers), the scroll (Seek Wisdom) and supports (extension of the flower design).