The motto was suggested to the Mayor of Melbourne by the first Judge of the district (Judge Willis), a well-known Latin scholar who thought it would be appropriate for the new Town Council. Alderman Condell and his fellow aldermen and councillors deemed it appropriate, for the three words ‘Vires acquirit eundo’ were adopted by the Council as the motto for the Town on January 2nd, 1843. Henry Condell was Melbourne's first Lord Mayor.
Curiously, the passage quoted refers to the Roman goddess, Rumour. The lines preceding the text used for the motto refer to Rumour as she raced through Africa and state that of all the pests Rumour is the swiftest. The actual motto translates as follows: “In her freedom of movement lies her power, and she gathers strength with her going.”
Our coat of arms is based on the seal, engraved by Thomas Ham, was formally adopted by the Melbourne Council on 9 February 1843. The seal device was used from that time until 1940 as the arms of the corporation.
The present coat of arms is below, and further information can be found here.
There are some really fantastc street lamps in Melbourne. Thanks for the info.
ReplyDeleteSydney - City and Suburbs
Nice shot! I love street lamps!
ReplyDeleteJ Bar - Quite a few suburbs, have replaced the 'modern' street lights with old fashioned ones, even using heritge colours.
ReplyDeleteJust mne again - I like street lamps too, especially those with an 'olde worlde' look.
hi blossomflowergirl! ^0^
ReplyDeletethe coat of arms is very nice esp the animal in the middle, very unique. the gigantic lamp matches with the oh-so blue sky..btw, what's that structure on the left? it looks very de-constructed and modern!
Old World trimmings for the New World.
ReplyDeletegreat shots and too-....teh informations cause I did not know nothing about
ReplyDeletethank you very much....have a ncie weekend, dearest
http://graceolsson.se/mittliv/2009/11/07/a-romanian-man-at-flowers-from-today/
hellooo!!
ReplyDeletei like so much!!!
Beautiful old street light - is it on a bridge? Good research on the story of the motto. A well chosen Latin phrase - if you don't think too hard about the original story! :-)
ReplyDeleteThree Rivers Daily Photo
Hi Arabesque,
ReplyDeleteWe think our kangaroos are pretty unique too. The building you're referring to is in Federation Square and is the ACMI building (Australian Centre for the Moving Image. In the sidebar under 'labels' if you click on "Birrarung Mar" in the post dated 13 October, you'll get a better view of it.
Cheers.
AB - The old world trimmings always add a touch of class.
Grace Olsson - There's a numbewr of these lamps on Princes Bridge over the Yarra.
Sonia - I think they're pretty neat too.
Cheers.
Three Rivers - Yes, they're on the Princes Bridge. I suppose the gent at the time (Willis) didnt think too much on it either:-)