About the Waratah

The Insigne of the Waratah

At the 1961 meeting of the Council of the Australian Association of Neurologists there was discussion concerning some form of insigne for the Association. At the next AGM the idea was raised of an insigne comprising a picture of the head of John Hughlings Jackson ringed by a representation of the circle of Willis, but the matter was left in the hands of the President to progress it further.

In the following year, Graeme Robertson returned to Council with the concept of using an illustration of a waratah as the insigne.The illustration had been published in 1793, and was based on a specimen sent to London by John White, the first Surgeon-General to the newly founded colony at Sydney Cove.  

It could be regarded as an Australian parallel to the emblem (a rose, a thistle, a daffodil and a shamrock) of the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases at Queen Square in London, the institution to which Australian neurology had such a close relationship. Moreover, this particular illustration of the waratah had a historical association with some of the earliest medical activities in Australia.

 Graeme Robertson’s suggestion was accepted by the Council and the AGM of the Association, and the insigne has been used by the Association since that time.

 “The Flowering of a Waratah” MJ Eadie p 141

Waratah Trademark Guidelines for ANZAN Members