Flag of Western Australia

The flag of Western Australia is a British Blue Ensign with a black swan drawn on a golden disc. The swan looks at the mast and there is no other ornament: with South Australia, it is one of the two Australian state flags with a bird.

How it came about

The current flag is from 1953, but its origin goes back much further. When the colony was founded at the mouth of the Swan River, the swan —which abounds in those waters— became its symbol, and even the name of the colony, Swan River Colony, recorded it.

The state government adopted the base used by other Australian colonies: a blue ground and the Union Flag in the mast corner. In the centre of the free side they placed a golden disc with the black swan, which was already the emblem of the state.

How it has changed

It has changed, but very little: the 1953 flag is almost a copy of the first one.

1. 1870

   The first flag of the state was almost identical to the current one. The only difference: the swan faced the opposite direction.

2. 

   1953

   The swan is turned so that it looks at the mast, as the vexillological custom requires. Since then the flag has not changed.

What it means

• Blue ground

  the common base of the Australian flags made from the British Blue Ensign.

• Union Flag

  the flag of the United Kingdom, in the mast corner. It is the convention of the British colonies, not a symbol of the state.

• Golden disc

  the place where the emblem of the state goes, a disc and not a coat of arms.

• Black swan

  the symbol of the state since it was a colony. It is also on its coat of arms.

Fun facts

1. The swan looks at the mast

   The only thing that changed in 1953 was the direction of the bird. Before, it faced the opposite way. It was turned to respect the vexillological custom that the figures on a flag look towards the flagpole, the mast.

2. The name of the colony was that of the bird

   The first colony of Western Australia was called Swan River Colony, the colony of the Swan River, and the swan was its emblem. Hence its presence on the flag today: nobody chose a pretty bird, the symbol the territory already had was kept.

3. A new flag that has been twenty years without arriving

   Since the early twenty-first century there has been a movement to change the flag of the state. The proposal resembles those of the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory, but in black and gold, the colours of the state, and with a black swan in the centre. In 2004 it was raised in the Perth parliament.

4. Two flags with a bird, four without

   Of the six Australian states, only two carry a bird on the disc: the piping shrike of South Australia and the swan of Western Australia. The other four either carry no disc or put the Southern Cross in its place.