Magic symbols from Australia’s forgotten chapter
A hexafoil carved into the walls of a stable. A hexafoil, also known as a daisy wheel, is thought to offer protection. Modern Wicca describes them as a sun motif, and a more secular point of view is that they are a geometric exercise for apprentices.
Painstakingly chiselled into century-old stone stable walls, tucked away in the back of a blacksmith’s workshop, lies a forgotten piece of Victoria’s colonial history.
It is a hexafoil — small, white, circular, and intricately carved with a witch’s mark.
It is one of many thought to be hidden in south-west Victoria, according to historian and Australian Magic Research Project Director Ian Evans.
“It’s a circular mark, probably about six inches across, and within the mark there are a number of arches made with the use of a protractor or compass and these look like the petals of a flower,” Dr Evans said.
Burn marks and hidden boots
Dr Evans said magic symbols like the hexafoil were often used by tradespeople and farm workers to protect buildings and animals without the knowledge of the property owners.
“It was not a case where there were wizards roaming around, this was the magic of the ordinary people of the cities, towns and countryside,” he said.
Stables and homesteads were common places to find signs of magic and superstition, but this is the first instance where researchers have looked at colonial-era buildings around Victoria to trace the lineage of Australia’s folk history.
Already, the researchers have found burn marks in more than 20 stables in the southern midlands of Tasmania and a boot beneath the floor of one of Brisbane’s oldest homes — both symbols of folk magic thought to ward off evil spirits and offer protection against misfortune and disease.
“The belief was if you hid, for instance, a child’s shoe in the house … that that would protect the child while the child lived in the home,” said Dr David Waldron, a senior history lecturer at Federation University.
Crosses on door hinges were thought to ward off evil spirits and protect against disease.
Filling in the forgotten chapter
Hexafoils, burn marks and hidden clothing are part of a set of ancient superstitions that date back to the Roman times, carried to Australia by the colonialists in the 18th century — especially the impoverished Irish.
“You get a lot in the papers at the time about trying to stamp out superstitions amongst the poor Irish Catholics,” Dr Waldron said.
The symbols could relate to deeply personal fears — those of mothers who worried they would lose their children to typhus, or farriers concerned for the safety of their horses.
Ritual burn marks in a stable in Victoria. Burn marks were thought to protect against evil spirits.
Medical advancements and institutionalised education saw a decline in superstitious thought in the 19th century, but the ancient magic symbols still hide on homesteads and colonial properties around Australia.
In Victoria, these symbols have already been found on farming properties near Terang and Mortlake, close to Warrnambool.
Dr Evans said he was especially keen to hear from property owners from south-west Victoria with intact stables and farm buildings in the hopes of uncovering the truth about Australia’s folk magic past.
“It’s a lost and secret history,” he said.
“A forgotten chapter in Australian history.”
Personally, I think its amazing to see the “everyday” magic of the non-practitioner. When science and medicine wasn’t enough, people fell back to the old ways - and used these techniques to protect themselves, their families and their livelihoods.
