ACCORDING TO LEGEND AND THE GMH-A PRESS RELEASE, THE WHEEL WAS

INVENTED WHEN PRIMITIVE MAN (OR WOMAN, PRESUMABLY)

OBSERVED A LION ROLLING A STONE. THIS MAY ALSO HAVE BEEN THE ORIGIN

OF THE CIRCUS.

It was accepted practice, in the 19th century, for coach-builders to engrave their name or trademark on a door sill or on a large plate fastened to the instrument panel of a coach.

The first Holden emblem was a life size wooden horse which stood above the entrance to the Holden & Frost Saddlery business in Adelaide, South Australia.

In the early 1920s, Holden Motor Body Builders (HMBB) had a large powerful engraved brass plate embossed with a winged figure representing industry against a background of factory buildings but by 1926  the company decided to downsize and emulate the practise of Fisher Body in the USA by attaching a replica of its coach trademark to the bottom of the cowl.

Because the existing emblem was too detailed to be embossed on a small plate however, a new design was commissioned. In keeping with the time of Egyptian antiquity influence in fashion, clothes, furniture, films and song, a "Wembley" Lion was chosen, depicting an Egyption lion (the symbol of the British Empire Exhibition held in London in 1924). According to fable, the principle of the wheel was suggested to primitive man when observing a lion rolling a stone.

Several sketches were presented and it was the design of George Raynor Hoff, one of Australia`s leading sculptor`s, who was commisioned to develop the design in solid sculpture form. Small pressed metal plate replicas were produced from plaster models for nameplates.

The "Lion and stone" nameplates were affixed to all Holden motor bodies from 1928 to 1939 on the lower near side of the cowl. The design ws also adopted as a trademark in all Holden advertising.

The Holden Lion, then, became the emblem for the first Australian GM car, the Holden. The chrome-winged surround on the FX/FJ grille badge was Cadillac-inspired. The classical Egyption lion design gave way to a more modern interpretation of the symbol in 1972 which, in turn, was replaced in 1994 by the Holden brand and symbol we know today.