Department of Supply Crest – and SCODOS

The Department of Supply crest covers the dedication plaque at the Opening Ceremony of Honeysuckle Creek on 17 March 1967. Detail from this Australian News and Information Service photo preserved by Hamish Lindsay.

Is the Department of Supply crest just a nice design? Does it have a meaning? Indeed it does, though the information was not easy to find. (Admittedly, anyone familiar with heraldry may recognise the design.)

In a 1990 audio interview with Tom F C Lawrence conducted at the Australian Space Office by JPL historian Craig Waff, Mr Lawrence explains the meaning of the crest.

The point he is making is that the Department of Supply was established to provide whatever logistical and material support was needed by the Australian Army, Navy and Air Force – so it was, in a sense, the Fourth Arm of Defence in Australia.

“You’ve got three fighting services and the Department of Supply. In fact, interestingly, [the crest] is heraldically correct and it’s called an S-carbuncle. An S-carbuncle is the support for the shield.

When shields were first introduced, way back in the Stone club days, it was a piece of skin set up on a cross arrangement of bits of wood behind.

And as they eventually got to metals, they used to ornament, they used to, first of all, put metal studs on these wooden things on the front of the shield to protect the shield.

And then eventually when you got to a metal shield, this became an ornament on the shield and was called an S-carbuncle, the support to the shield.

And that is what was picked for the Department of Supply. So we looked upon ourselves as the fourth arm of defence.

And the philosophy was, if the service asks for help, you will help them to the best of your ability. No matter what the problem is, no matter what the question is, you are here to aid and support defence. And no matter what they want, you will help them.”

(We plan to publish more of Tom Lawrence’s interview and background to the Department of Supply.)

Thomas F C Lawrence AM, wearing his Department of Supply tie which bears the DOS crest. Photo courtesy of Barbara Barnsley.

Tom Lawrence, wearing the DOS tie, at a lunch in honour of George Mueller at Honeysucle Creek in December 1969. Photo: Hamish Lindsay.

The Department of Supply’s magazine, SCODOS, often featured the crest.

So, where does the name SCODOS come from?

Might it stand for something like “S-carbuncle of Department of Supply’ or something similar? If you know, please make contact. :-)

The cover of the Department’s magazine often featured the crest, as it does on the September 1969 issue.