Australian knights and dames

Heraldry from Australasia
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Arthur Radburn
Posts: 1331
Joined: 11 Jul 2012, 09:56

Australian knights and dames

Postby Arthur Radburn » 30 Mar 2014, 16:47

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Knight/Dame of the Order of Australia

The news is doing the rounds on medal and heraldry fora and twitter pages that the Queen of Australia has reinstated the Knight/Dame class of the Order of Australia. This means that Australians can be knighted again, in recognition of "extraordinary and pre-eminent achievement and merit of the highest degree." The Knight/Dame class of the order was discontinued in 1986.

Naturally, this has armorial implications. The statutes of the order provide that : "In any Armorial Bearings granted by the Garter Principal King of Arms to a member of the Order, armorial indications of rank within the Order may be included in accordance with this sub-regulation."

The prescribed indications of ranks are :
* Knights and Dames may be granted supporters
* Knights, Dames, Companions and Officers may place the circlet from the order badge around their arms and suspend the badge on its ribbon below it
* Members may suspend their badge on its ribbon below their arms
* Holder of the Medal of the Order may suspend the medal on its ribbon below the arms.

The badges of the other classes are slightly different from the Knight's in that they do not have the coat of arms in the centre. This is the Companion's badge :

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These are the arms of Shane L. Stone AC, showing the Companion's insignia with his arms :

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(The text of the LPs makes interesting reading, with Garter, Clarenceux and Norroy & Ulster declaring that the Queen of Australia is their Sovereign, while the arms of the Queen of the UK are depicted at the top of the document. But's that a topic for a different discussion!)

Picture credits :
* http://www.theorderofaustralia.asn.au/a ... signia.php
* http://stonefamilyinaustralia.com.au/shane_stone/arms
Regards
Arthur Radburn

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Chris Green
Posts: 3621
Joined: 10 Jul 2012, 13:06
Location: Karlstad, Sweden

Re: Australian knights and dames

Postby Chris Green » 30 Mar 2014, 20:51

Interesting and informative. Thank you Arthur.

I am slightly surprised that one of our South African members was first with the news when we have members in Australia.
Chris Green
IAAH President

Bertilak de Hautdesert


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