University of Sydney - Coat of Arms

Coat of Arms

The Grant of Arms was made by the College of Arms in 1857. The grant reads:

Argent on a Cross Azure and open book proper, clasps Gold, between four Stars of eight points Or, on a chief Gules a Lion passant Guardant also Or, together with this motto "Sidere mens eadem mutato" to be borne and used forever herafter by the said University of Sydney on their Common Seal, Shields or otherwise according to the Law of Arms.

The use of eight-pointed stars was unusual for arms at the time, although they had been used unofficially as emblems for New South Wales since the 1820s and on the arms of the Church of England Diocese of Australia in 1836.

According to the University, the Latin motto Sidere mens eadem mutato can be translated as "Though the constellations change, the mind is universal", thereby, conveying the aspiration that "the traditions of the older universities of the Northern Hemisphere are continued here in the Southern." Author and university alumnus Clive James quipped in his 1981 autobiography that the motto loosely translates as "Sydney University is really Oxford or Cambridge laterally displaced approximately 12,000 miles".