Archives THE COLLEGE CREST AND COLOURS
In the early days of our College when it was Christian Brothers’ College (CBC) at 1 St Georges Terrace Perth, the school colours were red and black. The earliest crest was the De La Salle’s ‘Signum Fidei’ as seen in the stained-glass panel which was originally above the main entrance to the Brothers’ residence in St Georges Terrace, but now safely restored in the entrance to Gibney Hall at Trinity College. At the end of the 1937 school year, when the boarders from CBC Perth moved to the new Aquinas College they took with them the colours of red and black. The Headmaster of CBC had to introduce new colours for the Terrace. Br P L Duffy, who had recently arrived from CBC St Kilda in Melbourne decided to replicate their colours – two blues and a green. The colour blue has always been associated with the Blessed Virgin Mary and the green acknowledges our strong Celtic links with Catholic Ireland. Not only was the Founder of the Christian Brothers, Blessed Edmund Rice, an Irishman but so too were the co-founders of CBC Perth – Brother Ambrose Treacy and Bishop Matthew Gibney. The first Headmaster of the Terrace, Br T A O’Brien was also an Irishman. From 1938 to 1961 ‘the Terrace’, as the school was affectionally known, continued to use an adaptation of the Christian Brothers’ crest as the school crest, but when the whole school moved from St Georges Terrace to what was then Riverside Drive, now Trinity College, Brother Stan Mullen designed a new coat of arms for the new school. The following is taken from the 1963 Trinity College Annual:
After a good deal of consideration and professional advice the College Council formally approved the new Coat of Arms for Trinity College. The new arms present in bold outline the three golden crowns upon the royal blue background as symbolic of the dedication of the College to the three Divine Persons of the Blessed Trinity. The overall shape is that of the simple male shield. Crowns are traditionally associated with kingship and dominion and they are arranged in the form of an equilateral triangle to emphasise the unity and equality of the Divine Persons. The arrangement of the whole was taken from the arms of the Irish Republic, being the Arms of Munster where the Congregation of Christian Brothers was founded (Waterford). The Cross is the cross of our salvation, the sign of a Christian school, while the Marian symbol signifies the devotion of the order and its schools to the Blessed Mother of God. This symbol was taken from the coat of arms of Bishop Gibney, co-founder of Christian Brothers’ College, Perth. The motto is taken from Psalm 123: “Adjutorium nostrum In Nomine Domini qui fecit caelum et terram.” “Our help is in the name of the Lord who made the heavens and the earth.” The official school colours for Trinity College are royal blue, pale blue and emerald green. Only the royal blue appears on the Coat of Arms. In heraldry, the colours
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WINTER 2020 – TRINITY NEWS
white, silver and gold are never considered official colours, but may be used with red for adornment or extra decoration. Hence the three crowns are gold (never yellow) and the jewels in the crowns are red. The three crowns from the Trinity Coat of Arms must never appear in any other formation other than the equilateral triangle. And the three colours are of equal importance. None is a minor colour. White and yellow are not our school colours. Written by Br Rob Callen, past Trinity College Director Campus Ministry. Mrs Robyn Jennison Trinity College Archives
