Boxing kangaroo: Difference between revisions

▲The idea of a boxing kangaroo originates from the animal's defensive behavior, in which it will use its smaller forelegs (its arms) to hold an attacker in place while using the claws on its larger hind legs to try to kick, slash or disembowel them. This stance gives the impression that the kangaroo appears to be [[boxing]] with its attacker.

▲The image of the boxing [[kangaroo]] has been known since at least 1891, when a cartoon titled "Jack, the fighting Kangaroo with Professor Lendermann" appeared in the magazine ''Melbourne Punch''.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Golder|first1=Hilary|title=Mrs. Mayne and Her Boxing Kangaroo: A Married Woman Tests Her Property Rights in Colonial New South Wales|journal=Law and History Review|date=Autumn 2003|volume=21|issue=3}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/lhr/21.3/images/golder_fig1b.jpg |title=Archived copy |access-date=2006-09-05 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060906031611/http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/lhr/21.3/images/golder_fig1b.jpg |archive-date=6 September 2006 |df=dmy }}</ref> In the late 19th century, outback travelling shows featured kangaroos wearing boxing gloves fighting against men.<ref>[http://www.southsearepublic.org/article/3/read/australian_vexillology Australian Vexillology] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091228094128/http://www.southsearepublic.org/article/3/read/australian_vexillology |date=28 December 2009 }}</ref> ''[[Das Boxende Känguruh]]'', an 1895 German [[silent film]] directed by [[Max Skladanowsky]], and [[The Boxing Kangaroo|an English silent film]] produced by [[Birt Acres]] in 1896 also both featured kangaroos boxing against men, while the American animated shorts ''The Boxing Kangaroo'' (1920), ''Mickey's Kangaroo'' (1935) and ''[[Pop 'Im Pop!]]'' (1949) helped establish the concept of a boxing kangaroo as a popular culture cliché.{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}}. The 1978 Hollywood movie ''[[Matilda (1978 film)|Matilda]]'', which starred [[Elliott Gould]] and [[Robert Mitchum]], featured a boxing kangaroo that was exploited for [[prize fighting]].

▲During [[World War II]] boxing kangaroos were stencilled on Australian fighter aircraft of [[No. 21 Squadron RAAF]] based in [[Singapore]] and [[British Malaya|Malaya]] to differentiate their aircraft from British planes.{{citation needed|date=January 2015}} The practice soon spread to other units, as well as onto ships in the [[Royal Australian Navy]].{{citation needed|date=January 2015}}

▲In 1983 the boxing kangaroo received national and international prominence when it served as the symbol for the successful Australian challenge for the [[America's Cup]], where the boxing kangaroo [[flag]], a red-gloved golden [[kangaroo]] on a green background, was flown from the yacht ''[[Australia II]]''. [[Alan Bond (businessman)|Alan Bond]] (owner of the ''Australia II'' yacht) owned the image and licensed it for mass production. The image was later bought by the [[Australian Olympic Committee]], and is used as a mascot to represent the Australian Olympic team and to promote sport and fair play in schools.<ref>[http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/07/23/1090464860217.html Boxing kangaroo gets a metrosexual makeover]</ref><ref name=decision/>

▲The Boxing Kangaroo design created in 1983 as part of the successful Australian challenge to the America's Cup - and later bought by the Australian Olympic Committee - was originally designed by Steve Castledine, now a widely respected fine artist specialising in watercolours. https://www.castledine.com.au/