THE FAMILY CREST - AN AUSTRALIAN INTERPRETATION
A poor Irish farming family had little use for a family crest - such things were reserved for those families steeped in power, riches and history.
Matthew Carrucan (Peter Line) has come up with a modern Australian interpretation of the family crest. It features the Eltham Copper Butterfly (Paralucia pyrodiscus lucida), an endangered species of local butterfly that is native to the Eltham area where our forebears settled so many years ago.
Matthew comments that he chose it for the obvious association with Eltham and obviously as it is a metaphor for "the resurrection" and the continuation or transformations of "Life after Death" (Peace and Life Eternal).
There are two forms of the crest.
The first version shows the butterfly with the words of our family prayer superimposed on it.
The second version shows the butterfly inside a circle with the final stanzas of our family prayer surrounding it. This version contains 3 symbols, each representing one of our major family lines
- Saint Bridget Cross - Bridget Line
- Keys - Symbol of Saint Peter - Peter Line
- Trefoil - Shamrock - Trinity Symbol Saint Patrick - Patrick Line
The Eltham Copper Butterfly was discovered in 1938 in Eltham, an outer suburb of Melbourne. After 1956 it was thought to be extinct until a population was found again at Eltham in 1986. Since then this small butterfly - its wingspan is only 2.5cm - has diminished in abundance and numbers due to destruction of its habitat and the isolation of populations. It is listed as Threatened under the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 and is considered Vulnerable.
The butterfly is known from three general locations:
- ten sites in the Eltham-Greensborough area near Melbourne,
- one site at Castlemaine and
- six separate small populations in the Kiata-Salisbury area west of Dimboola.