Kangaroo emblems and popular culture
Since its European discovery, Kangaroos have since become an emblem of Australia, appearing in their coat of arms and in many state and city coat of arms, Australian logos such as the Qantas logo, names of Australian sport teams, mascots such as the Boxing Kangaroo and in public art.
The kangaroo was considered a unique oddity when Captain Cook's HMB Endeavour arrived back in England in 1771 with a specimen on board.
[1] Joseph Banks, the naturalist on the Endeavour voyage, commissioned George Stubbs to paint a portrait of the kangaroo specimen.
From that time on, the kangaroo quickly came to symbolise the Australian continent, appearing in exhibitions, collections, art and printed works across Europe.
This originated during the Korean War: as the destroyer HMAS Anzac was repeatedly mistaken for a British warship, her executive officer had a brass 'weathervane' in the shape of a kangaroo made and mounted to the ship's mainmast.
The Victorian Coat of Arms includes the upper portion of a kangaroo holding an Imperial Crown in its paws.
Notable examples include: An early depiction of a kangaroo on an item of decorative art is the Macintosh & Degraves Token Shilling 1823.
This item of Tasmanian colonial silver incorporates a kangaroo, an emu and wattle branches in its design.
The Terence Lane kangaroo collection at the National Museum of Australia consists of more than 150 objects and ephemera in a wide range of styles produced over a period of 150 years.
The collection ranges from a one-metre-high Doulton ceramic kangaroo umbrella stand to small items of jewellery.
The Hallmark Properties television series Zoobilee Zoo has a character named Whazzat Kangaroo (the Canadian actress and singer Stephanie Louise "Stevie" Vallance plays this role).
Kanga and Roo are fictional mother and son kangaroos in the popular series of children's books about Winnie-the-Pooh.
Kidding Kangaroo in the Sweet Pickles book series by Ruth Lerner Perle, Jacquelyn Reinach and Richard Hefter.
A kangaroo is shot and killed by Ernest in The Swiss Family Robinson, a book written by Johann Wyss.
Kanga and Roo are fictional mother and son kangaroos in the popular series of cartoons about Winnie-the-Pooh.
In Tom and Jerry: The Fast and the Furry, the commentators are holding a kangaroo by the leash when the racers reach Australia.
In the British punk style comic strips Tank Girl, the protagonist's boyfriend is Booga, the mutant anthro-kangaroo.
In the U.S. movie Tank Girl, slightly based on the comic strips, the protagonist is assisted by Rippers – mutant kangaroo genetically engineered supersoldiers (and Booga is among them, of course).
In Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, there is a kangaroo named MacHopper, who is also a parody of Crocodile Dundee, another Australian icon.
In the Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil episode "Bwar and Peace", Brad talks about his Australian self, who afterward was punched, and the kangaroo appears before and during his wedding with the girl he is with.
In the fifth season of The Flintstones, the Rubbles adopt Hoppy, a pet hoparoo (a Stone Age version of a kangaroo) from Down Under, for Bamm-Bamm.
Ripper Roo, a crazy kangaroo in a straitjacket, is a boss character and antagonist of the video game series Crash Bandicoot.
Breloom, a Grass and Fighting type, is also partly based on a kangaroo with mushroom and boxing features.
