THE ARMORIAL BEARINGS OF

THE ROYAL NEW ZEALAND COLLEGE OF URGENT CARE

The Royal New Zealand College of Urgent Care was formed in 1992 and as the Accident and Medical Practitioners Association was incorporated on 14 August 1995.  On 20 October 2011 the Association changed its name to the College of Urgent Care Physicians Incorporated. On 23 October 2013 Her Majesty The Queen granted the College the title “Royal” and on 18 February 2014 changed its name to the Royal New Zealand College of Urgent Care Incorporated.

The design of the Armorial Bearings alludes to the role and work of the College.  The College trains doctors for work in urgent care clinics.  

Letters Patent
Corporate Grant of Armorial Bearings, with Supporters.

Earl Marshal’s Warrant dated 4 April 2016.

Letters Patent issued under the Seals and Signatures of Thomas Woodcock, CVO, Garter Principal King of Arms, Patric Laurence Dickinson, LVO, Clarenceux King of Arms, and Timothy Hugh Stewart Duke, Norroy and Ulster King of Arms, and dated 15 November 2017.

Blazon (Technical description)
Azure on a Fess wavy Argent a Fess wavy Gules charged with a Fleam Or all between three Manuka Flowers slipped and leaved proper and for the Crest Upon a Helm with a Wreath Argent and Azure A Sun in Splendour Or environed by a Circlet of Koru Argent surmounted by four Mullets in cross Gules Mantled Azure doubled Argent

For Supporters:  Dexter A Male Figure proper vested Argent representing Hippocrates holding in the dexter hand a Book Sable edged Argent and charged on the front board with a Koru Or Sinister a Female Figure proper vested Argent representing Panacea holding in the sinister hand a Dish Or and drinking therefrom a Serpent its body suspended over the sinister shoulder Vert both on a Compartment of New Zealand Ferns proper growing therefrom on the dexter two Poppies Gules slipped and leaved Vert and on the Sinister three Poppy Seed Heads slipped and leaved proper both on a Compartment of New Zealand Ferns proper growing therefrom on the dexter two Poppies Gules slipped and leaved Vert and on the sinister three Poppy Seed Heads slipped and leaved proper.

Motto: SEMPER SANAMUS

 

 

NOTES ON SYMBOLISM

Colours and Metals
The principal colour and metal are blue (Azure) and silver or white (Argent).

Blue and white are commonly used in urgent care emblems (logos) in New Zealand, along with red connoting urgency.

Arms (Shield)

A blue shield charged with three sprigs of Manuka flowers and leaves between in the centre a white Fess wavy and a red Fess charged with a gold Fleam. The Fleam was the implement or lancet used by medieval physicians to open veins of those persons requiring blood-letting.

Red alludes to urgency. Red is used in urgent and emergency medicine generally, e.g. red cross and for emergency department signage.

Manuka or Tea Tree (Leptospermum scoparium)
Manuka is common throughout New Zealand, from sea level to about 1,000 m., and on the Chatham Islands. Flower colours vary from light pink to rose and whites. The Manuka flower from which honey is obtained is noted for its medicinal or health-healing properties.  The plant alludes to urgent care facilities which are common and widespread. Urgent care is very much for all people rather than being an exclusive commodity. Manuka honey has been used in wound care which is a significant component of urgent care.

Extract from: The Native Trees of New Zealand by J T Salmon, DSc, FRSNZ, FRPS, revised edition reprinted, Auckland, 1989, p.p. 162-163:

A “tea” drink was made from manuka leaves by Captain Cook’s men and by the early settlers; the name tea tree was given to the tree by Captain Cook. The Maori people used it as a medicinal plant. Decoctions made of the leaves were used to reduce fever and treat colds; preparations of the bark were used as sedatives.

Manuka tea was possibly used by Captain James Cook to prevent scurvy caused by the lack of vegetables.  “Cook thought it was healthful, and a fair substitute for the green vegetables…” (See The Life of Captain James Cook, [The Journals of Captain James Cook, vol. IV], by J C Beaglehole, London, 1974, pp.324.)

Extract from: Native New Zealand Flowering Plants, by J T Salmon, Auckland, 1991, p.p. 41-42:

Manuka, Leptospermum scoparium, is probably one of the best-known New Zealand plants, growing as a shrub or small tree throughout both North and South Islands.  Manuka flowers normally are about 12mm across … in the wild usually white … but coloured wild forms have occurred…

The manuka flower is regarded as one of New Zealand’s floral emblems. The Badge of The Queen’s Service Order (QSO) instituted in 1975 is based on a stylised Manuka flower.

Crest

A representation of the Sun in Splendour within a circle of four white Koru coils and charged with four red Mullets (stars) in cross, alluding to the constellation of the Southern Cross, a New Zealand symbol.

Mullets also appear in the Arms and Crests of other medical organisations in particular of obstetricians and gynaecologists.

The inclusion of the sun in splendour was inspired by the Crests of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and the Royal College of Emergency Medicine. The Crest of the latter College depicts the sun between two crescents. The sun in splendour alludes to night and day operations and symbolises the spread of knowledge, illumination or enlightenment.  The inclusion of Mullets (stars) provides both allusion to the constellation of the Southern Cross and night and day. In Maori art the Koru (coiled fern frond) often alludes to the beginning of life, growth and development.  It may also allude to the ‘circle of life’.

Supporters

The two Supporters are classical figures.

Sinister (right) a female figure or a representation of Panacea holding a gold dish with a serpent drinking therefrom alluding to ‘heal or cure all’. Urgent Care doctors see any patient with any urgent condition and in that sense they do try to ‘cure all’.  The snake often appears in Arms of medical organisations in particular on the Rod of Aesculapius, the Greek God of medicine and healing.  The snake is the symbol of healing and a sign of wisdom and knowledge. [see A New Dictionary of Heraldry edited by Stephen Friar, London, 1987]

Panacea (heal-all) was one of the four daughters of Aesculapius.  [see A Smaller Classical Dictionary, edited by E H Blakeney, revised edition, London, 1937, p. 365]  The figure of Panacea is based on the statue of Panacea holding a snake in the Dion Museum, Macedonia, Greece.

Dexter (left) a male figure or a representation of Hippocrates holding in his right hand a black book with a gold Koru on the cover. This alludes to learning.

Hippocrates (c460BC-357BC) was perhaps the most famous name in Greek medicine who was noted for his writings and doctrines.  The Hippocratic Oath of medical practitioners seems to have originated from his work.  [see The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature, M C Howatson, 1997, p.279]

Compartment

A Compartment of green New Zealand ferns, with the addition of flowering Poppies and Poppy seed heads.  The Poppy is the source of the drug morphine, a painkiller and other opioids.

 

Motto

The Latin Motto SEMPER SANAMUS (Translation: ‘Care at all times’)

 

Phillip O’Shea
New Zealand Herald of Arms
Extraordinary

5 July 2018