The Mace
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Symbolism and Use of the Mace | The Current
Mace | History During medieval times, the Royal Serjeants-at-Arms
were distinguished by their power of arrest without a warrant. To an increasing
extent, their Maces - originally ordinary weapons of war, similar to a club -
became their emblems of authority. They were stamped with the Royal Arms; and
in an age in which few men could read or write, the Serjeants effected their arrests
by showing their Maces and not by producing any form of written warrant. The
evolution of maces from weapons of war to symbolic representations has seen the
flanged head decrease in size into an ornamental bracket, while the butt end,
which carried the Royal Arms, has expanded to accommodate larger and more ornate
Royal Arms and an arched crown surmounted by an orb and cross. As a result of
the expansion of the butt end, maces began to be carried upside down with the
crown uppermost.
Symbolism and Use of the MaceThe Mace
of the House of Representatives is the symbol not only of the Royal authority
but of the authority of the House. As it has been stated that 'the authority of
the Speaker and of the House are indivisible', it also symbolises the authority
of the Speaker.
Before the election of a Speaker,
the Mace is placed on brackets under the Table of the House and as soon as the
Speaker takes his or her seat after being elected by the House, it is placed on
rests on the Table (see Standing
Order 12).
When the Speaker is in the Chair, the Mace lies on the Table,
with the orb and cross surmounting it pointing to the government side, that is,
to the Speaker's right. The only time that the Mace is not removed from the Table
when the Speaker leaves the Chair is when he or she has temporarily suspended
a sitting of the House (perhaps for a meal break). The Mace remains on the Table
during the whole of the suspension. The Serjeant-at-Arms
is custodian of the Mace. Bearing the Mace upon the right shoulder, the Serjeant-at-Arms
precedes the Speaker when the Speaker enters and leaves the Chamber
at the beginning and the end of a day's sitting.
The Mace, carried by the
Serjeant-at-Arms, has become an important symbol of the authority of the Speaker
and of the House itself. There is a view that the House is not properly constituted
unless the Mace is present on the brackets in the Chamber.
The Mace also
accompanies the Speaker on formal occasions such as his or her presentation to
the Governor-General after election, when
the House goes to the Senate to hear the
Governor-General's opening speech, and on the presentation to the Governor-General
of the Address in Reply to the opening speech. On these occasions, the Mace is
covered with a cloth or left in an antechamber before entering the Governor-General's
presence. Being the symbol of the Royal authority, the Mace is unnecessary in
the presence of the authority itself.
The Current Mace
The current Mace of the House of
Representatives was presented by a delegation of the House of Commons in 1951
after King George VI had directed 'that a Mace, a symbol of the Royal authority,
should be presented, on behalf of the Commons House of the Parliament of Great
Britain and Northern Ireland, to the House of Representatives of the Parliament
of the Commonwealth of Australia to mark the Jubilee year of the Commonwealth's
foundation'. It is made of silver gilt and weighs approximately 7.8 kg. From
the first sitting on 9 May 1901 until the presentation of the new Mace in 1951
the House used a Mace borrowed from the Victorian Legislative Assembly.
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