History

The distinguished graphic designer, Mr Harry Williamson, was commissioned to develop a new university emblem, following the amalgamation of the University of Technology, Sydney; Kuring-gai College of Advanced Education; and the Institute of Technical and Adult Teacher Education of the Sydney College of Advanced Education in January 1990. 

 

His emblem embodies three major components.

 

The most prominent feature is the anchor drawn from the coat of arms of the City of Sydney, where the largest campus of UTS is located. It reinforces the university's traditional close links with government, commerce and industry within the city. The base of the anchor also forms one of the spirals of the double helix in the representation of the DNA molecule, the basic building block of life itself.

 

The breaking of this genetic code has been hailed as one of the greatest scientific breakthroughs of the 20th Century, winning the researchers the Nobel Prize in 1962. The double helix, therefore, reflects the innovative, technological character of the university. The wave motif at the base complements the other elements in the design, and symbolises the maritime position of the City of Sydney.

 

The contemporary design is contained in a heraldic shield that provides a sense of continuity with tradition for institutions of higher learning through the ages. The emblem is compatible with the university mace, which is carried on ceremonial occasions as a symbol of authority. 

The pattern of the mace commonly seen today was standardised by Royal Decree of Charles I (1600–1649). At UTS, the mace-bearer is a member of staff. The mace is carried before the Chancellor on all ceremonial occasions over which the Chancellor presides, as a symbol of the fact that the Chancellor represents the tradition of the university and that in the Chancellor is vested the authority and good name of the university.

 

The university's mace was a gift from the Department of Technical and Further Education in New South Wales to the Council of the first University of Technology, Sydney in 1989. That council in its turn presented the mace to the new university. 

 

The design is a blend of traditional and modern devices. The most prominent feature is a double helix, the code of life, surmounted by a device depicting the university emblem and the emblem of the first UTS. At the base of the shaft the emblem of the City of Sydney, the waratah and the TAFE logo are depicted. A strand of the double helix and the anchor of The City of Sydney emblem are also incorporated into the university's present emblem. 

 

The mace is made of silver and titanium to symbolise the blend of tradition and modern technology at UTS; it was designed and fashioned by Helge Larsen and Darani Lewers, jewellers and silversmiths of Sydney.

 

The university staff, also by Larsen and Lewers, was designed to respond to the particular character of the University of Technology, Sydney and to relate to the earlier mace. The head of the staff, a spherical wire form, recalls the double helix head of the mace. Similarly the university emblem surmounts the head. 

 

A series of rings around the shaft repeats the motif of wheels used on the shaft of the mace. The Australian timber jarrah used for the shaft of the staff replaces the titanium of the shaft on the mace. Its warmth and richness is appropriate to its supporting role in relation to the ceremonial mace as one of the two symbols of authority. The staff was a gift from the UTS Alumni Association and was used for the first time in the Autumn 1994 graduation ceremonies. A member of UTS staff carries it at the head of the academic procession.