The current state flag of South Australia, was officially adopted by the government of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

in 1904. The flag is based on the defaced British

Blue Ensign The Blue Ensign is a flag, one of several British ensigns, used by certain organisations or territories associated or formerly associated with the United Kingdom. It is used either plain or defaced with a badge or other emblem. The ev ...

with the state badge located in the fly. The badge is a gold disc featuring a

piping shrike The badge on the Flag of South Australia depicts the rising sun, and a Piping Shrike standing on a branch of a gum tree. The Piping Shrike is more commonly known as a White-backed Magpie. ThPiping Shrikeis sometimes mistakenly associated with the ...

with its wings outstretched. The badge is believed to have been originally designed by Robert Craig, a teacher at the School of Arts in Adelaide, and officially gazetted on 14 January 1904.

Previous flags

The first flag of South Australia was adopted in 1870. It too was a defaced British Blue Ensign but with a black disc in the fly containing the

Southern Cross Crux () is a constellation of the southern sky that is centred on four bright stars in a cross-shaped asterism commonly known as the Southern Cross. It lies on the southern end of the Milky Way's visible band. The name ''Crux'' is Latin for ...

and the two pointers ( Alpha and

Beta Centauri Beta Centauri is a triple star system in the southern constellation of Centaurus. It is officially called Hadar (). The Bayer designation of Beta Centauri is Latinised from β Centauri, and abbreviated Beta Cen or β Cen. The sys ...

). South Australia then adopted a second flag in 1876, also a Blue Ensign, with a new badge. The badge design was an artistic rendition of the arrival of

Britannia Britannia () is the national personification of Britain as a helmeted female warrior holding a trident and shield. An image first used in classical antiquity, the Latin ''Britannia'' was the name variously applied to the British Isles, Great ...

(a white woman in flowing garb and holding a shield, representing the new settlers) meeting an Aboriginal sitting with a spear on a rocky shoreline. A

kangaroo Kangaroos are four marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern ...

appears to be carved into the rocks behind the Aboriginal. This flag was adopted after a request from the

Colonial Office The Colonial Office was a government department of the Kingdom of Great Britain and later of the United Kingdom, first created to deal with the colonial affairs of British North America but required also to oversee the increasing number of c ...

for a new design over the old one due to its similarity to the flags of

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

Proposal for a new flag

On 29 October 2016, a motion to adopt a new, "more multicultural" state flag was passed at the South Australian Labor Party conference. The State Government did not act on this proposal before Labor lost office at the 2018 state election.

Governor's flag

The Governor of South Australia, being the representative of the South Australian head of state, the

Queen of Australia Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

, is officially granted a flag for use on all official occasions. It is identical in design and construction to the flag of South Australia, except that it features a

St. Edward's Crown St Edward's Crown is the centrepiece of the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom. Named after Saint Edward the Confessor, versions of it have traditionally been used to crown English and British monarchs at Coronation of the British monarch, the ...

above the badge to represent vice-regal power.

References

External links

The State Flag of South Australia
*
1870 flag
{{Union Flag 1904 establishments in Australia Flags introduced in 1904 Emblems of South Australia

Society in South Australia Flags displaying animals

Previous flags

Proposal for a new flag

Governor's flag

See also

References

External links