Flag Adopted: 29 November 1876
Flag Proportion: 1:2
Use: State Flag and Ensign
The previous flag of Queensland, incorporating a profile (proper) of Queen Victoria, proved to be somewhat difficult to reproduce on flags on a large scale, and this led to a new colonial badge being adopted for Queensland in 1876.
The acting Colonial Secretary William Hemmant produced four possible designs for a new badge and presented them to governor William Cairns. The preferred design was a dark blue Maltese Cross on a white field, with an Imperial Crown in the centre of the cross.
No explanation of the symbolism of this design was ever provided. In the view of Ralph Kelly (Crux Australis Vol VIII No 4 1992) it may have been merely derived from the cross appearing on English Crowns or an allusion to the Southern Cross, so frequently used in other Australian colonial flags.
References
Crux Australis
Anthony Burton (Editor), Flag Society of Australia, Melbourne, Australia.
– Australian State Flags (1865-1904): A British Admiralty Legacy", Ralph Kelly, Volume VIII No 4 October 1992.
Flags of Australia (chart)
John C Vaughan, Standard Publishing House, Sydney, 1983.
Flags of the Nations (chart)
Flag Society of Australia, Flag Research Center, and National Australia Bank, Australia, 1992.