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Sydney's mayoral insignia
by:
Margaret Betteridge
THE INSIGNIA associated with public office are the markings, signs and symbols which have traditionally identified the authority of parliamentary, judicial, mayoral, ecclesiastical or academic office. Their origins are steeped in ancient customs and rituals, and their intent was always to denote authority or status.
The wearing of ecclesiastical vestments, we learn as recorded in Exodus,1 was an instruction from God to Aaron on his consecration to priesthood, to give dignity and magnificence. The instruction included detailed advice on the colours, materials, designs and significance of the garments for Aaron and his sons, and on the embroidered decoration. They were intended as sacred vestments, denoting their appointment as priests in Gods service, to be worn in the Tent of Meeting and when they approach the altar to serve in the sanctuary, as a precaution against incurring
mortal guilt.
Aarons insignia included a small golden bell which would sound to denote his presence and authority; and a breastplate, set with gold and precious stones. The stones, engraved with the names of the sons of Israel, were secured with twisted gold chain and rings, securing them into position to ensure that whenever Aaron entered the sanctuary, those names were closest to his heart.
In the Middle Ages insignia was no longer the exclusive language to denote religious affiliation and status. It had become an outward expression of feudal pretension, denoting hereditary descent and identity; and it became a visual language or branding on medieval battlefields. Defenders and usurpers of royal and noble households styled as knights and bedecked in armour, liveries and heraldic devices, engaged in aggressive warfare for power and property. The emergence of this tradition, as documented in the Bayeux Tapestry, created to record the victory of William I, Duke of Normandy in the Battle of Hastings in 1066, clearly identifies the battle garb of man and beast, and their accompanying manifestations of power in the decoration of their shields and on the staves and banners they hold aloft.
By the fourteenth century, in feudal England and Europe, medieval business and trade in towns was conducted through livery companies and guilds whose role it was to protect customers, employers and employees by imposing standards on the quality of work, and regulating weights and measures. Acceptance into these companies was granted as a freedom before full liveried status could be granted, enabling members to wear the dress and insignia relevant to that particular company or guild. As the companies grew and prospered, they acquired halls as permanent meeting places and venues for their business affairs where they could settle trade disputes, elect their committees and confer membership.
In 1835, with the passing of the Municipal Corporations Act in England, which required members of town councils to be elected by ratepayers, a new order of authority emerged. Livery companies, with their codes and regulations, their halls and their self-styled costumes became surrogate role models for the trappings of the new civic office. Judicial responsibility, with its own hierarchical uniform, was also on their agenda.
The Municipal Council of Sydney was formed in July 1842, its Act of Incorporation2 declaring that the town of Sydney to be a city and providing for the better protection, care and management of the local interests of the Inhabitants. The new authority to administer the Act was vested in a council of elected aldermen3 and councillors under the chairmanship of a mayor.4 Within six months, the agenda of the newly formed council was discussing the matter of dress, including a white waistcoat to be adorned with corporation buttons and a purple robe with ermine trim and court dress hat for the mayor.5 Such civic pretension would surely be designed to eclipse the last remaining penal stigma.
In 1883, discussion of the acquisition of a mayoral chain to be worn by the Right Worshipful the Mayor of Sydney on public occasions was recorded in the Council minutes.6 In the minutes, then town clerk, Charles Woolcott, required that it comprise a series of gold links, the cost of which the aldermen would contribute towards. The motion was defeated on vote and the matter lay dormant, despite the action of Melbournes council the following year to commission the local firm of silversmiths, Wm Drummond and Company, to create a chain and pendant medallion which was subscribed for by councillors and the town clerk.
By 1901, Sydneys population had swelled to around 200,000 inhabitants, enough for the town to be accorded the status of a city. The official recognition of this elevation came in the form of Letters Patent which acknowledged that the sovereign, King Edward VII bestowed Royal favour on the City of Sydney and styling the title of the mayor from henceforth as Lord Mayor, the Royal Warrant in 1902 created the City of Sydney and the elevation of its mayor to Lord Mayor, as a mark of respect for the standing of the city in
the Empire.7
This was music to the ears of Sydneys business community who stood to benefit from this enhanced status and so began a concerted effort to acquire an appropriate piece of mayoral insignia to adorn the citys first lord mayor. In December 1902, the Sydney Chamber of Commerce offered to present the first link of a chain of office to the new Lord Mayor.8 There followed a similar offer from the Sydney Stock Exchange, while Council undertook to approach the former mayors and their families for contributions of links to record each incumbents term.
The following year, on 7 September 1903, then Governor of New South Wales, Sir Harry Rawson, was invited to attend Councils 1,179th meeting in the Council Chamber in Town Hall.9 There, before the assembled council, he invested Sydneys first lord mayor, Thomas Hughes with the chain, which he described as an adjunct to the Royal Warrant. Made of gold and supplied by William Farmer and Co of Sydney, the chain comprised medallions presented by the Sydney Stock Exchange, the Sydney Chamber of Commerce, and twenty-one links from former mayorsMessrs J R Wilshire,
T Broughton, J Williams,
C Moore, M Chapman, J Merriman,
S Goold, C J Roberts, R Fowler,
J Hardie, T Playfair, J Young,
A J Riley, S Burdekin, S E Lees,
and I E Ives.
Former mayor John Harris presented five, one for each year of his mayoralty. Thomas Hughes himself presented an enamelled pendant medallion decorated with Councils then unofficial coat of arms. This was a protocol to which Hughes would devote considerable time and energy in 1907-8, ultimately securing the official granting of arms for the City of Sydney before the conclusion of his last term of office.
Traditionally, a new link was added to the chain, marking the term of each successive lord mayor, but by 1940s, the chain had expanded to such size and weight that it was becoming too heavy to be worn. In 1958, with the practice of wearing traditional robes to official functions in decline, a dress collar was commissioned from the Sydney firm of Angus and Coote Pty Ltd. This insignia could be worn with a business suit, and is worn comfortably by both male and female lord mayors. In addition to the chain of office and dress collar, the Friends of Sydney Town Hall marked Councils sesquicentenary in 1992 with the presentation of a silver mace, commissioned from Adelaide silversmith, the late John Hale. This decorative item is purely symbolic with no tradition of a mace carried before the mayor, or laid on the table during meetings of Council.
Opportunities to wear or use mayoral insignia in Sydney are restricted to formal civic ceremonies including naturalisations, presentations of Keys to the City and Freedom of the City; while the wearing of dress robes together with the chain of office is now reserved for royal visits. There is no Silent Ceremony like that of the City of Londons where the outgoing lord mayor hands over the insignia to his successor in silence. Nor will the City of Sydney ever compete with English cities, some of which boast chains of office for their lord mayors, lady mayoresses, sheriffs and sheriffs consorts. Included in their insignia are pieces of impressive hardware, including maces and swords, borne in mayoral processions by a retinue of sword and mace-bearers, suitably clothed in costumes, derived from the rituals and traditions of medieval times.
NOTES
1 Holy Bible, Exodus, Chapter 28, v 1-43.
2 Act of Incorporation. An Act to declare the Town of Sydney to be a City, and to incorporate the Inhabitants thereof, 20 July 1842, section 1.
3 Alderman is a term thought to have been adapted from the Anglo-Saxon ealdorman, or local elder.
4 The title mayor is derived from the French word maire and understood to have originated from the Latin word major, meaning greater or superior.
5 Proceedings of Council, 16 November 1842.
6 Proceedings of Council, 14 August 1883.
7 Town Clerks Report, 1902, p. 10. Prior to this time, the mayor had been referred to with the prefix His Worship, later His Right Worshipful, the traditional form of address for magistrates, mayors and other dignitaries.
8 Proceedings of Council, 16 December 1902.
9 Minutes of the 1,179th meeting, p. 291. |
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