AIB History - The Coat of Arms

The Australian Institute of Building (AIB) was granted Armorial Bearings by the Garter King of Arms on 20 August 1960, with approval for the use of ‘supporters’ to the Arms, a feature reserved for scholastic bodies of good repute and Governments, such as in the Australian Government's Coat of Arms.

The documentation approving the Coat of Arms is available for review at the Institute's national office in Canberra, Australia

The kangaroo and lion supporting the shield symbolise the relationship that AIB enjoys with within the building profession in Australia and throughout the Commonwealth. The motto Advance Through Learning that appears on the Institute’s Coat of Arms continues to be used by the Institute.

Such archaic relics of a chivalrous era are little valued in modern Australia however they continue to serves a an important reminder of the historic legacy that the Institute’s current Council, members and staff are responsible for protecting .

Surprisingly few organisations or people who use a coat of arms and crest today have any actual right to do so.  Rights to a Coat of Arms are made by the appropriate heraldic authority acting under the sovereign.  These authorities are the College of Arms (in England, Wales and Northern Island), the Lyon Office (in Scotland) and Chief Herald of Ireland (In the Republic of Ireland).

From a historical perspective it is inappropriate for an organisation or individual to simply 'invent' a Coast of Arms.  Similarly Armorial bearings do not appertain to all persons of a given surname but belong to and identify members of one particular family.  Coats of arms and crests are a form of property and may rightfully be used only by the male-line descendants of the individual to whom they were first granted or allowed.  So the Coat of Arms for the 'Smith' family do not belong to all family's with a 'Smith' surname.

For further reading of the history of Armorial Bearings:
  -  Basic facts about heraldry for family historians, I Swinnerton (1995)
  -  Heraldry: for the local historian and genealogist, S Friar (1996)
  -  The Oxford guide to heraldry, T Woodcock & J Martin Robinson (1990)

	The Australian Institute of Building — Incorporated by Royal Charter
	Mail: E-mail:	GPO Box 1467,  Canberra,  ACT,  2601 ausbuild@aib.org.au