How our motto was chosen
In response to recent coverage in Air Force News of the redefinition of the Air Force’s motto, FLTLT Steve Wright looks at the intriguing story behind the motto’s adoption

Chief of Air Staff Air Commodore Richard Williams

LATE in 1928, Chief of Air Staff Air Commodore Richard Williams wrote to his colleagues on the Air Board stating, “I have for some time had under consideration the adoption of a suitable motto for the RAAF to be used on the badge or crest”.

He also said, “I think it is preferable that we should not adopt the same motto as used by the RAF – per ardua ad astra”, although he knew that Canada and New Zealand had already adopted that motto.

He could not have foreseen the unusual chain of events that his simple statements triggered. With the passing of nearly 75 years, we can now look at the motives, politics and intrigue reaching all the way to the king that led to the adoption of our motto.

AIRCDRE (later Air Marshal) Williams suggested five mottoes and their translations to the Air Board:

• per labores ad caelum (a variation on per ardua ad astra);
• celeritate et audacia (with speed and boldness);
• celeritas et audacia (speed and boldness);
• celer et audaux (speedy and bold); and
• celeriter et audaciter (speedily and boldly).
  

AIRCDRE Williams preferred the last suggestion, which he said was “the best balanced and the most euphonious”.

Most members of the Air Board must have felt out of their depth because they declined to comment. However, Finance Member Albert Joyce replied that a motto suggesting speed and boldness would not be peculiar to the Air Force and that at least one Citizens’ Military Forces (now known as Army Reserve) unit had already adopted it.

He suggested the following alternative mottoes and translations:

• amino et alis ad alta (by courage and wings to the heights); and
• volare, valere et vincere (to fly, to be strong, and to conquer).
  

Mr Joyce also suggested that a prominent Latin scholar should be consulted to ensure that a suitable motto was chosen and that it was “actually good Latin”. The board approached Dr Robert Wallace, Vice-Chancellor of Sydney University, and Professor George Cowling of Melbourne University.

Dr Wallace did not have a strong opinion, but he suggested that the following two mottoes might be suitable:

• virtus spernit humum (valour spurns the ground); and
• usque ad astra (to the very stars)
  

Professor Cowling, however, did have a strong opinion.

Many Australians at the time thought of England as the mother country, but Professor Cowling really took that sentiment to heart. He replied that “none of the proposals are as dignified or as suitable ... as the Imperial per ardua ad astra, which carries with it the traditions of our British citizenship”.

He went on to say, “to use this would indicate not only membership of the great Commonwealth of British Nations, but willingness for unity and co-operation. To adopt a private motto would be to express a sectarian spirit, which would certainly give offence to Great Britain, Canada and New Zealand, and which does not correspond to the political feeling of Australians of British descent.”

Professor Cowling knew that the Royal South African Air Force had already adopted its own motto, per aspera ad astra. In pompous imperial fashion he said, “South Africa, it is true, has adopted a sectarian motto, but that is an additional argument against the adoption by Australia of such a motto.”

The matter of the motto was discussed at the Air Board meeting in October 1929. The board succumbed to the strength of Professor Cowling’s view and decided that per ardua ad astra was to be the motto of the RAAF, providing the British Air Ministry had no objection.

The matter of British approval was seen as urgent because the board intended to use the motto on the official RAAF Christmas cards for 1929. However, a delay led to the approval not being received in time for Christmas. AIRCDRE Williams used it on the Christmas cards anyway.

The nature of the delay is interesting. As royal assent was required, the RAAF Australian Liaison Officer in London, Flight Lieutenant William Palstra, suggested that an approach from the Australian Government to the British Government would be the best avenue.

However, Scullin’s Labour Government had just been elected, and showed some anti-military tendencies. The Air Board’s response to FLTLT Palstra was that, “with the change of Government, it is not expedient that a request of this nature should be submitted at the present time”.

He was instructed to see if it was possible to receive approval without involving the new Government.

In March 1930, FLTLT Palstra brought up the matter of approval personally with the RAF Chief of Air Staff (CAS), without the Government’s knowledge. The CAS advised that King George V took a strong personal interest in such matters and that he would find out sooner or later.

Nonetheless, the British CAS said that he would “place the facts confidentially before the King” and that he felt the King would understand the problem that the RAAF had with the Government. Naturally, FLTLT Palstra felt it necessary to pass this information back to the Air Board by secret correspondence.

AIRCDRE Williams thought that the request should eventually be put through the correct channels “when suitable opportunity offers”. That opportunity arose 18 months later during the turmoil that marked the end of the Scullin Government.

On October 26, 1931, AIRCDRE Williams instructed the Secretary of the Air Board to draft a letter for signature by the Prime Minister’s Department. The letter simply said that the Air Force had been considering adopting a motto for some time, that it believed the RAF would have no objection, and that the king’s approval was sought. There was naturally no mention of the secret attempts to avoid Government involvement.

Approval was finally granted on February 1, 1932, in a formal letter from Downing Street in London addressed to the Australian Prime Minister. The order promulgating our motto was published on April 18, 1932, ending more than three years of red tape and intrigue.

• FLTLT Steve Wright is Commanding Officer of RAAF Central Band and he has written a number of papers on Air Force social history.

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