In 1975 GRADS was joined on campus at UWA by a small flock of peacocks.

The University’s Archives note that the fowl were a gift to the University. They initially took up residence in the Great Court and then Hackett Hall. They have since settled in the New Fortune Theatre in the courtyard of the Arts building where they share the stage with GRADS and intent on making their presence known in delightful and less delightful ways.

Visitors to the New Fortune Theatre delight in the shows put on by the males in late Spring through much of Summer. Children delight in gathering their brightly coloured plumage. The peahens proudly lead forth their small broods of chicks each year and they are not in the least camera shy.

However, some of the peacocks’ habits are less appealing. GRADS contends with on stage and off stage areas that are liberally dotted with peacock droppings. Some hard and dusty some soft and squelchy. But perhaps the peacocks’ most disruptive habit is to line the upper balconies of the New Fortune Theatre each evening keeping watch on the stage. From this vantage point they comment raucously on the performances of the actors on the stage.

Oddly enough, audiences have not been known to complain about these interruptions and appear to delight in the actors making the best of each awkward interruption. On one occasion a director approached the zoology department and had the fowl captured and caged for the duration of a performance season. This was the only year that audiences complained about the peacocks. They wanted to know where they were and whether they were alright.

Having shared the same home for nearly 50 years GRADS, perhaps more than any other group on campus, feels it has a legitimate case to claim (without the slightest hint of irony) the showy peacock as its mascot.