In 1927 Holden's Motor Body Builders Ltd of Adelaide commissioned Rayner Hoff, later responsible for the sculptures at war memorials in Sydney and Adelaide, to design an emblem for the firm similar to the lion used for the Empire Exhibition at Wembley in the United Kingdom in 1924. The emblem related to the myth that the invention of the wheel was suggested when a lion was observed rolling a stone.
This is the plaster lion marquette made by Hoff from which small diecast emblems were produced for nameplates applied to Holden car bodies built from 1928 until 1939. The design was adopted as a trademark for all Holden advertising, and the first Australian General Motors car, the Holden, in 1948. Updated in 1972 and again in 1994, this symbol is still used on all Holden cars.
Margaret Simpson, Curator