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| LAUNCESTON COAT OF ARMS |
This
example of the Launceston City coat of arms can be found on the civic
buildings in St John Street opposite the town hall and seems to
feature an “artistic” interpretation of its formal colours The
coat of arms was approved
at a council meeting in 1893, although Alderman Barrett was less that
impressed with the appearance of the Tasmanian tigers.
The
council website provides the following explanation of the elements of
its official design: “The
gold shield refers to the history of gold mining in districts
surrounding Launceston. The top green portion of the shield is
symbolic of the city's parks, gardens and surrounding countryside,
and the Tasmanian waratah flowers are symbolic of endemic flora. The
blue Pall represents the River Tamar and the North Esk River and the
South Esk River. The golden centre point represents Launceston's
location at the confluence of the three rivers. The two tin ingots on
the pall refer to the days when tin smelting took place in the city.
The supporters are the famous thylacines. Although possibly extinct,
their appearance is ideally heraldic. (The thylacine gained
additional significance in the mid 1980s when it was adopted as
Council's logo.) The crest is the yellow wattle bird, endemic to
Tasmania, resting on a native gum branch and holding a sprig of gum
in its beak. The compartment on which the whole rests includes an
English heraldic rose on one side of the shield and sprigs of wattle
on the other. These were added in 1957 by the College of Heralds as
tokens of the city's loyalty to the 'mother country' (United
Kingdom).”
A
description of the coat of arms published by the Examiner on
25th August 1936, suggests that the circle at the
junction of the rivers is a “bezanit (a gold coin of Eluzantium),
symbolic of wealth.” The author also writes that the wattlebird
presented sitting on a branch is emblematic of council and that the
foliage in its mouth, stands for peace. He suggests that silver is
the third mineral to be symbolically included in the coat of arms,
and that the rampant presentation of the thylacines is “emblematic of
magnanimity”. This article was inspired by the fact that
Melbourne had just had its coat of arms officially recorded (at a
cost of 130 pounds). Launceston did not apply for registration until
the council's centenary in 1953.
