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TheThe oldest copy
of the school badge in the Archives is on a presen-
tation to "T. Gregg" on December 17, 1880. And it was the “Signum
Fidei” badge the Brothers' schools used in Ireland at the time and
was copied from that used by the De la Salle Brothers in their schools
that had been founded in France in the late 1600s.
There is a hat-band
from the early days which uses this same "Signum Fidei" badge
also in the Archives. Instead of the more familiar Nudgee College of these
days it has Gregory Terrace. The colours are navy blue and white which
were the Terrace colours at the time.
 A
colour photo of a Terrace Football Honours Cap from 1922 shows the navy
blue and white with the school motto as Semper Fidelis (Always faithful).
The unusual badge and motto are also found on a pocket that has survived
from the same period. The College Headmaster of the time was Br B. F.
Magee (1917-1922).
 The
next Headmaster, Br Reidy was in for his second stint at Terrace (1923-25).
He suggested in 1923 that Nudgee might like to leave the blue and white
to Terrace as it was confusing since navy blue and white and royal blue
and white were hard to distinguish during play and they had been Terrace
colours since 1875! However he was not successful and so he changed the
Terrace colours to red and black.
 At
the same time, too, (early 1920s) the Christian Brothers changed their
congregational badge from the old Signum Fidei to Facere et Docere (To
do and to teach) which was a good motto for the Brothers, but perhaps
not for the schools. [At left, below]
In 1949 it was decided
to adopt a new College motto and badge. There is no mention of it in the
Magazine for either 1949 or 1950, even though the old crest is on the
1949 issue and the new crest is on the 1950 issue! The Headmaster was
Br Levander who wrote briefly about the change in a personal letter to
Br Steele the Archivist in the early 1990s. He mentioned that the new
motto Servire Deo Sapere was suggested by Br "Doc" Campbell.
He must have found it in a book about "Irish Coats of Arms".
The Archives has a copyof some pages, including the Sadlier Family coat
of arms with the motto Sevire Deo Sapere which they translated as To serve
God sincerely.
The 1950 Seniors at
their fiftieth Reunion remembered their year as the year of the two badges.
[Samples of the last year’s Facere et Docere badge and one of the
first Servire Deo Sapere badges can be seen above]
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