The confusion among potential emblem-proposers is quite understandable. It has not been explained why the ACT should have a mammal emblem just because other jurisdictions have decided they need a mammal emblem.
About 20 years ago the ACT govt decided it needed a ‘faunal emblem’ and the debate centred around the Gang-gang, the Corroboree Frog and, as I recall, a third candidate that might have been the Earless Dragon or Golden Sun Moth. All done then I’d hoped.
But no, we now need a mammal emblem as well. Do not suppose for a moment that that will be the end of it.
As I see it, our emblems are at different levels. The Gang-gang is THE FAUNAL EMBLEM. Any other favourite members of the natural world, from whatever category, will be in the nature of sub-emblems. To lend
some order to a rather chaotic process, I offer the below diagram. It would have been so much better, when the original debate took place, if the Chief Minister had said: “Fellow Canberrans, we are about to embark on a search for our faunal emblem. Let
us approach this in a logical fashion that recognises that there are all kinds of creatures out there and we all have our likes and dislikes. First by the end of next month I would like to have a settled preference for (a) a vertebrate or (b) an invertebrate.
If, each month, we calmly and sensibly choose our route past each evolutionary fork we shall, I calculate, have reached a suitable ACT FAUNAL EMBLEM by March next year. If you wish, each non-preferred fork can be given the rank of sub-emblem to avoid having
to make a similar journey on a future occasion. May I give the example ‘Invertebrate Emblem’ without in any way wishing to prejudge the route our steps might take.”
From: Mark Clayton [
Sent: Wednesday, 13 December 2017 1:09 PM
To: 'David McDonald (personal)';
Subject: RE: [canberrabirds] Faunal emblem for the ACT
Thanks to David for pointing out the “error” of my suggestion. However I can see no valid reason why we should specifically have a mammal as our Territory “animal”. It is about time that people like Andrew Barr
and all ACT politicians took note and thought outside the box and used a bit of initiative for a change – why not have some other animal as the ACT’s animal emblem. If they are determined to have a mammal then again, think of something that has the ACT as
a fair part of its current natural range, not something that has been reintroduced? In this regard why not something like the Smoky Mouse,
Pseudomys fumeus, a species listed as Endangered on the EPBC Act. It is rare in the ACT but does exist in the “High Country”.
Personally I still would prefer the Northern Corroboree Frog as our Territory animal and, apart from Geoffrey’s suggestion of “itsgodda”, and Con’s “Homo sapiens politiciensis”,
everyone who has replied specifically to my comment this morning prefers the frog. Perhaps when I put the results of this little “survey” up on the chat line I will also send it to our local pollies!!.
Mark
From: David McDonald (personal)
Sent: Wednesday, 13 December 2017 11:52 AM
To:
Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] Faunal emblem for the ACT
Good suggestion, Mark, but so far as I know, Corroboree Frogs are not mammals:
https://www.cmtedd.act.gov.au/open_government/inform/act_government_media_releases/barr/2017/mammal-emblem-for-the-act
Cheers - David
On 13/12/2017 9:20 AM, Mark Clayton wrote:
Hi all,
Recently in the press and on TV there has been discussion that the ACT needs a animal emblem so I thought that I would stir the pot to see what people think. Most states and the Northern Territory have a bird, animal and flower to represent
their states. – in the ACT we have the Gang-gang Cockatoo as the bird emblem and the Royal Bluebell as our floral emblem. Two species have been suggested as a possible animal emblem, the Short-beaked Echidna and the Eastern Bettong which is the species being
reintroduced to the Mulligans Flat reserve and elsewhere locally. Initially I thought that the echidna was more appropriate than the bettong as the echidna is far better known than the bettong which hasn’t, to the best of my knowledge, been recorded in the
ACT in local European history.
After thinking about the topic it occurred to me that neither of the suggested species is really suitable as the echidna is found all over Australia and in Papua New Guinea, and the bettong, as I have noted above, hasn’t occurred in the
ACT for quite some time. One species that I think would be an ideal animal emblem is the Northern Corroboree Frog, a species that has much of its known habitat and range in the ACT. It is a spectacular little frog with lime-yellow and black markings, and is
a threatened species.
I would be very interested to see any other suggestions for any species for the three categories as emblems for the ACT. I will collate the answers and get back to the chat line ith the results in a few weeks.
Cheers,
Mark
