Flag Adopted: circa 1953
Flag Proportion: 1:2
Use: State Flag and Ensign
The flag of Western Australia is a British Blue Ensign defaced with the state badge. The badge depicts the native Black Swan on a yellow disc, with the swan swimming towards the hoist. A variant to this design renders the swan more artistically and includes water ripples.
The black swan has long been a symbol of Western Australia. The original colony was in fact called the Swan River Settlement, and in 1870 Governor Weld suggested that the black swan would be the obvious choice of badge for the colony - as it "has been always considered as its special badge, or cognizance."
Australian Flags
Department of Administrative Services, Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, 1995.
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.
Flag of Stars
Frank Cayley, Rigby Ltd, Adelaide, 1966.
Flags and Arms Across the World
Dr Whitney Smith, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1980.
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.