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Army flags (Australia)

Army flags and flag stations
Army Aviation Command
Historical Flags:
- Banner for Centenary of the Army
Flags as shoulder patches
Australian Army roundel 1968-

See also:

Army flags and flag stations

The Australian Army does not have a flag. The Army is, however, the protector of the Australian National Flag.
David Cohen, 11 November 1997

I saw a letter from an Australian Army unit in an exhibition recently, and it seems the Australian Army's badge is similar to the British one, but with a royal crown above a leaping kangaroo over the crossed swords, rather than a Royal Crest. So does the Australian Army use this badge on a red field like the British Army's flag?
Roy Stilling, 12 September 1997

I had a reply this week from the Australian Army's Ceremonial and Protocol office, who says:

'The Army's badge is the General Service badge (the 'Rising Sun'), but the badge you are referring to is the Australian Army emblem (a kangaroo ensigned with the crown and backed by crossed swords). It is only used by Land Command units; however, brigades within the Command use a badge of crossed swords behind the formation's number, below which is a boomerang (bearing the word 'BRIGADE') and above, the Crown (e.g. 3rd Brigade's formation badge is the Arabic number 3 above a boomerang, backed by crossed swords, the whole ensigned with the crown).'

My enquiry also asked about Flag Stations. The Army says:

There are no special regulations for flag stations other than they are required to fly a large (3.6 x 1.8m) Australian National Flag on: Sundays, Australia Day, the anniversary of the Queen's accession to the Throne (6 Feb.), ANZAC Day, the anniversary of the Queen's coronation (2 June), official birthday of the Queen (as directed by Army HQ), the Queen Mother's birthday (4 Aug), Australian National Flag Day (3rd Sept), when an artillery salute is fired at a flag station, when directed by the Governor-General, on other occasions as ordered by Army HQ.

David Cohen, 11 November 1997

Between 28 July 1916 and 12 January 1955, the flags to be flown at military flag stations and the circumstances under which they were to be flown, were laid out in the civil law Australian Military Regulations. Because the actual flag stations were individually listed in the enclosed table they were subject to relatively frequent amendment as military barracks, forts and enclosures were established or closed down.

In the Australian Military Regulations 1916 (No 166 of 28/07/1916) the flag stations locations and provisions were shown at Regulation 224 in table form. In the Australian Military Regulations 1927 (No 149 of 14/12/1927) the flag stations locations and provisions were shown at Regulations 707 and 708, those of 708 in table form. Both were repealed from the Regulations by Australian Military Regulations (Amendment), No 7 of 12/01/1955.

The prescribed flags to be flown at flag stations were the 'Australian Ensign' (Australian National Flag). Depending upon the location of the facility, the day, the occasion and the weather, the flag was either a 12 feet by 6 feet one, or a 6 feet by 3 feet one. Regulation 707 provided for flying of the Royal Standard and the Personal Standards of members of the Royal Family if they had one, or the Union Flag if they didn't. Amendment No 45 of 28/04/1937 also allowed for flying of the Governor-General's then-new Royal Crest flag, and revised several of it's previous provisions for the various Royal flags.
Jeff Thomson, 14 July 2021

As David Cohen's above post says, the Australian Army does not have a flag. The Australian Army is, however, the protector of the Australian National Flag. This fact led to an interesting minute in the report of an interdepartmental flag committee meeting of nine members held in Canberra on 14 July 1960. (NAA Item ID 1863037, page 8).
https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=1863037

The minute was the last one in the report and appears to be an afterthought. It concerned the lack of a separate flag for the Army. The Army representative, Lt Col N P Farquhar was asked if the Army had considered a separate flag and he replied that it had not. Mr F C Boyle, Chairman of the meeting (Prime Minister's Department) stated that the Dept intended to take this matter up with the Army officially in the near future. Then Mr F S B Appleton from the Department of Defence added that 'the adoption of a separate flag by Army would resolve some embarrassing points of protocol which occur under the present arrangement'. There is no indication of what those embarrassing points of protocol were, nor what the 'present arrangement' was. And the Army still does not fly a separate flag.
Jeff Thomson, 23 July 2025

Army Aviation Command

image located by Jeff Thomson, 6 March 2022

In December 2021 the Army created a new Army Aviation Command and they have a flag. It is about 2:3 proportion, a sky-blue over dark blue horizontal bicolour with a red kangaroo 'in flight' (as per the RAAF roundel). The kangaroo is almost wholly in the sky-blue half with only the arms and legs intruding into the dark blue. It faces the fly, and due to the length of the red tail it appears that the whole kangaroo is displaced towards the fly. A clear photograph can be seen at https://www.australianaviation.com.au/2021/12/army-launches-new-single-aviation-command-today/.
Jeff Thomson, 6 March 2022

David Prothero, 1 October 2005

Banner for the Centenary of the Army

4:5

images by Joe McMillan, 12 February 2005

Earlier today (March 10) a ceremony was held in Canberra to mark to centenary of the Australian army. The colours, guidons and banners of every unit of the Army took part - the first time since the Queen's silver jubilee almost 25 years ago. The highlight of the day was the presentation of a banner to the Army by the Governor-General. The banner is scarlet, with gold fringes, cords and tassels. The obverse of the banner bears the coat-of-arms of Australia. The reverse bears the 'rising sun' badge of the Australian Army, flanked by several battle honours commemorating every major conflict the Army has involved in for the last 100 years (example: World War I). This was the first time a ceremonial banner truly representive of the Army as a whole was presented to the Army.
Miles Li, 10 March 2001

I would guess that it's just a one-off ceremonial item, not intended to replace any of the forces' flags, or the tri-service flag.
David Cohen, 10 March 2001

This flag is officially simply called the Army Banner, and several photos of it (obverse only, showing the coat-of-arms, not the reverse with the 'rising sun' badge) can be found in the photo gallery of the official Australian Army website
Miles Li, 7 May 2001

The flag is obviously in the standard British colour size of 36 x 45 inches, crimson with the Australian arms in color on the obverse and the dates "1901-2001" in gold in the upper hoist. The reverse shows the army badge--a sunburst behind a red disk bearing the royal crown--and seven campaign honors on small gold-edged scrolls: South Africa, World War I, World War II, Korea, Malaya-Borneo, South Vietnam, and Peacekeeping. The flag is trimmed with gold fringe, has gold and crimson cords and tassels, and is mounted on a pike with the usual British royal crest finial.
Joe McMillan, 12 Feb 2005

Flags as shoulder patches

The Times (London) has in today's edition (Saturday 24 May 2003) a photo of an Australian soldier in Iraq during a ceremony in Baghdad to mark the re-opening of the Australian diplomatic mission.

The flag on his shoulder is a very light shade of blue:

Andrê Coutanche, 24 May 2003

Several people suggested possible reasons. Christopher Southworth and Miles Li point out that it is probably deliberate, since using the blue in the union jack is normal dark blue, so it is not due to fading, and using two shades of blue would be more expensive. Ralph Kelly suggests that the lighter shade of blue is for camouflage reasons, and Christopher Southworth confirms that the lighter blue seems to be less visible against sand. However, Joe McMillan asks why, if that were the reason, do the colours in the canton have their normal shades? Al Kirsch wonders whether it may be an Air Force Ensign, with the roundel missing possibly because the patch is too small.
FOTW Discussion, 26 May 2003

Australian Army roundel 1968-

images by Nozomi Kariyasu, 10 April 2024