Kangaroos, Wallabies and other Macropodidae have become emblems and symbols of Australia, as well as appearing in popular culture both internationally and within Australia itself.
Kangaroos are part of cultural and spiritual significance for many Indigenous Australians. Since its European discovery, Kangaroos have since become an emblem of Australia, appearing in their coat of arms and in many state and city coat of arms, Australian logos such as the Qantas logo, names of Australian sport teams, mascots such as the Boxing Kangaroo and in public art. Kangaroos are also well represented in film, television, songs, toys and souvenirs around the world.
European first encounters
The kangaroo was considered a unique oddity when Captain Cook's HMB Endeavour arrived back in England in 1771 with a specimen on board. Over time it has come to symbolise Australia and Australian values.[1]
Joseph Banks, the naturalist on the Endeavour voyage, commissioned George Stubbs to paint a portrait of the kangaroo specimen. When the official account of the voyage was published in 1773, it was illustrated with an engraving of Stubbs' kangaroo. From that time on, the kangaroo quickly came to symbolise the Australian continent, appearing in exhibitions, collections, art and printed works across Europe.[2]
Kangaroo status
It took a long time for the kangaroo to achieve official recognition in Australia. Despite being a "declared noxious animal" because of its reputation for damaging crops and fences and competing with domestic animals for resources, the kangaroo finally achieved official recognition with its inclusion on Australia's coat of arms in 1908.[3] The kangaroo is now popularly regarded as Australia's unofficial animal emblem.[4]
The kangaroo and emu are bearers on the Australian Coat of Arms. It has been claimed these animals were chosen to signify a country moving 'forward' because of a common belief that neither can move backward.[5]
Australia's national airline, Qantas, uses a bounding kangaroo for its logo. The kangaroo has always been part of the Qantas logo,[6] and the airline has previously been known informally as "The Flying Kangaroo".
Tourism Australia makes use of the kangaroo in its logo to "help ensure instant recognition for Australia around the world".[7]
The Australian Grown logo uses a golden kangaroo in a green triangle to show that a product is made or grown in Australia.[8]
Warships of the Royal Australian Navy have red kangaroo symbols (based on the kangaroo on the reverse of the Australian penny) fixed to either side of their superstructure or funnel. This originated during the Korean War: as the destroyer HMAS Anzac was repeatedly mistaken for a British warship, her executive officer had a brass 'weathervane' in the shape of a kangaroo made and mounted to the ship's mainmast.[9]
The boxing kangaroo – mascot for the Australia II team in the 1983 America's Cup. This rendition of the kangaroo has become a sporting icon, known informally as the green and gold "Sporting Kangaroo", and is highly popular with cricket crowds and international sporting events which feature Australian participation.
Matilda, the mascot at the 1982 Commonwealth Games held in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, was represented by both a cartoon kangaroo and a 13-metre high (42 feet 8 inches) mechanical kangaroo (which winked at the spectators during the opening and closing ceremonies). The 'medal', which was worn by both the cartoon and mechanical versions of Matilda, features the 1982 Commonwealth Games logo — a stylised representation of a kangaroo bounding (in "flight") – similar to the pose of the kangaroo featured on the pre-decimal half-penny coin.[10]
During the First World War, pet kangaroos and toy kangaroos were a popular choice of mascot for Australian servicemen.[11][12]
Kangaroo gargoyles atop The Carlton Club (built 1889) in Carlton, Victoria.
Architectural references
The first uses of Kangaroo ornaments as architectural expression appeared during the Victorian era. This was at first limited to the use of the coat of arms on buildings; however, kangaroos soon became used as decorative motifs on their own in some commercial buildings, particularly in Melbourne.
It was the Federation architecture, however, which brought native ornamentation into the mainstream, so that kangaroos began to be mass-produced as ornamentation on domestic houses in the large cities, as part of an Australiana movement and effort to create a uniquely Australian style. Examples of this decoration include the ornamental terracotta tile capping on residential roofs. Reproduction products using Kangaroos are still used today.
An early depiction of a kangaroo on an item of decorative art is the Macintosh & Degraves Token Shilling 1823.[13] Another early example is the Garret salver. This item of Tasmanian colonial silver incorporates a kangaroo, an emu and wattle branches in its design.[14]
The kangaroo has continued to be incorporated into decorative designs by craftspeople and designers in Australia and elsewhere in the world. The Terence Lane kangaroo collection at the National Museum of Australia consists of more than 150 objects and ephemera in a wide range of styles produced over a period of 150 years. The collection ranges from a one-metre-high Doulton ceramic kangaroo umbrella stand to small items of jewellery.[15]
Wake in Fright is a 1971 movie which includes a controversial kangaroo hunting scene containing graphic footage of kangaroos actually being shot.[16] In a more comical vein, the 1986 film Crocodile Dundee features a scene in which the title character frightens away kangaroo hunters by making them think that a kangaroo is shooting back at them.[17]
Matilda is a 1978 movie starring Elliott Gould about a promoter working with a kangaroo.
Kangaroo Jack is the title character of an American film of the same name.
Kidding Kangaroo in the Sweet Pickles book series by Ruth Lerner Perle, Jacquelyn Reinach and Richard Hefter.
One of the several intelligent races described in the fantasy novel Shadowkeep, written by Alan Dean Foster, are high-bounding, fun-loving marsupials, known as "roos" and obviously meant to be intelligent kangaroos.
In several Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies cartoons, Sylvester the Cat is beaten up by Hippety Hopper the baby kangaroo, who always accomplishes this feat after escaping from the captivity of humans who have attempted to take him to a zoo in assorted American cities and whom Sylvester believes to be a giant mouse.
In the British punk style comic strips Tank Girl, the protagonist's boyfriend is Booga, the mutant anthro-kangaroo. There are some other minor kangaroo characters. In the U.S. movie Tank Girl, slightly based on the comic strips, the protagonist is assisted by Rippers – mutant kangaroo genetically engineered supersoldiers (and Booga is among them, of course).
In The Simpsons episode "Bart vs. Australia", Homer and Bart try to escape from a crowd in the pouches of two kangaroos, which they ultimately cannot because of the kangaroos' pouches being filled with mucus.
In the Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil episode "Bwar and Peace", Brad talks about his Australian self, who afterward was punched, and the kangaroo appears before and during his wedding with the girl he is with. Kick also interacted with the kangaroo.
In the fifth season of The Flintstones, the Rubbles adopt Hoppy, a pet hoparoo (a Stone Age version of a kangaroo) from Down Under, for Bamm-Bamm.
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Aussie hair products from Procter & Gamble sports a kangaroo hopping on its label, while the magazine and television ads display an animatronic purple kangaroo in them.
Dunkaroos are a snack in the U.S. which used to feature a talking kangaroo in commercials and on product containers.
In the Pokémon franchise, Kangaskhan is a Normal type based on a kangaroo with reptilian features. Breloom, a Grass and Fighting type, is also partly based on a kangaroo with mushroom and boxing features.
In the anime and manga series Reborn! the character Ryohei Sasagawa has a kangaroo in one of his ring boxes that enables healing and advances abilities of others.
Chimera Punch, a kangaroolike monster in Tokyo Mew Mew.
Kangaroos and sporting teams
The kangaroo features prominently in sport. Australian sports teams with nicknames derived from the kangaroo (and wallaby) include the following:
^Harper, Melissa and White, Richard (eds) (2010). Symbols of Australia, p. 28-29, UNSW Press, Sydney: National Museum of Australia Press, Canberra. ISBN978-1-921410-50-5
^Harper, Melissa and White, Richard (eds) (2010). Symbols of Australia, p. 24. UNSW Press, Sydney: National Museum of Australia Press, Canberra. ISBN978-1-921410-50-5
^Harper, Melissa and White, Richard (eds) (2010). Symbols of Australia, p. 25. UNSW Press, Sydney: National Museum of Australia Press, Canberra. ISBN978-1-921410-50-5
^Cassells, Vic (2000). The Destroyers: their battles and their badges. East Roseville, NSW: Simon & Schuster. pp. 11–12. ISBN0-7318-0893-2. OCLC46829686.
^Croft, David B. (1991). Australian People and Animals in Today's Dreamtime: The Role of Comparative Psychology in the Management of Natural Resources. New York: Praeger. p. 32. ISBN0-275-93908-1. In Australia's latest version of the bush hero, Mick "Crocodile" Dundee, we find an explicitly totemic being who is a poacher turned conservationist as he chases away a group of kangaroo shooters at the behest of his American girlfriend.
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