Australind likewise used a black swan on a yellow disc. Early sources show it facing the fly, while LJC 1966 shows it facing the hoist. Rosanoski suggests a connection with the Western Australian badge, whose swan faced the fly until 1953. Lloyds 1904 outlines the A594 disc in black; Lloyds 1912 shows the A595 swan swimming on black dashes.
Photographs confirm A121 on the first Australind before and after the First World War. Rosanoski suggests that this may relate to her initial ownership by Bethell, Gwyn, since she was delivered before the Australind company was registered in 1904.
Sources variously attribute the livery to Trinder, Anderson, Australind and West Australian. The funnel is described as yellow, but whether its house-flag device was a panel or band is not always specified; Rosanoski suggests that funnel width may account for the presentation. Cross width varies, and Book of Flags gives the flag field as royal blue. He regards Brown 1978’s white funnel base as a printing error. Avenue Shipping at one stage flew this flag as well as its own.
The later funnel is described as pinkish buff, pinky yellow or pale flesh, although some illustrations show yellow. Photographs appear to show mirrored swans facing forward on both funnel sides, unlike LJC 1966. The flag was nicknamed the “hungry goose”. The panel apparently first appeared on Ashburton in 1905. Armadale of 1909 and the second Armadale of 1929 appear to have white-based panels with a dark cross and dark disc or diamond, possibly Western Australian Government Steamships markings, although The Log does not support that suggestion. The second Australind’s funnel remains unexplained.
Rosanoski concludes from the Ships in Focus photographs that the A120 and A183 funnels appear not to have existed. These documented renderings are retained with that explicit reservation.
The National Maritime Museum flag, dated about 1951 and measuring 1219.2 × 1826.8 mm, appears black in its image, with a faint outline caused by the swan disc being stitched over the field. Its catalogue text says blue, which Jarig Bakker follows. Rosanoski also cautions that the museum’s company account misleadingly suggests an amalgamation in 1904.
In 1904 the two London firms formed the separate Australind Steam Shipping Co. for the UK–Australia emigrant trade. Federal Steam Navigation was the largest single shareholder by 1912, while the partners’ families together held a majority. Australind later became a P&O subsidiary and left shipowning around 1980; the last cargo ship was sold in 1981.
Keep the explicit scope label independent; no alias or company identity is inferred.