Coat of arms of australia

Coat of arms of australia

The coat of arms of Australia , valid since September 19, 1912, shows a six-field shield.

description

The coat of arms is split twice, once shared with a silver board as ermine bordüre. In the six fields that are badges (badges) of the respective states shown.

• The first field , heraldic top right (top left from the viewer), stands for New South Wales and shows a silver cross of St. George with a gold star on each of his arms and a running golden lion in the middle.
• The middle field of the top row shows in blue the silver cross of the south made up of five stars of different sizes above which a golden crown hovers for Victoria .
• The top left heraldic field stands for Queensland and shows a blue Maltese cross ( Victoria cross ) in silver with a royal crown placed in the middle .
• Heraldic lower right in gold a naturally colored flute bird sitting with spread wings on a black branch . It stands for South Australia .
• At the bottom center in gold a swimming black swan pointing to the left, flapping wings . This is the mark for Western Australia .
• The sixth field shows a running red lion in silver and stands for the island of Tasmania .

Territories such as the Northern Territory or the Australian Capital Territory around the capital Canberra are not represented in the coat of arms.

The shield holders are in natural colors on the heraldic right side a kangaroo , the national animal of Australia, and on the left side an emu . Both animals are typical of Australia and cannot move backwards. This is intended to underline the progress and forward-looking Australia.

A gold-blue crest with the gold Commonwealth Star hovers above the shield . It has seven points, one for each of Australia's six states and one for the territories. Under the shield is an acacia vine as a pedestal , on which lies a silver scroll with the word Australia in black capital letters .

The golden acacia , called the golden wattle in Australia , is the national plant of Australia.

The Australian coat of arms can also be seen in a modified form on the Australian Royal Standard of the monarch, currently Queen Elizabeth II .

history

The coat of arms from 1908

Australia was first given its own coat of arms on May 7, 1908 by King Edward VII . This original coat of arms showed a silver shield with a blue border, this was covered with six silver shields with red rafters. On the silver shield was a red St. George cross with five stars. Above the shield was the Commonwealth Star in blue and gold. The shield was held by a kangaroo on the left and an emu on the right. On a lawn plinth on which they stand, there was a banner with the motto of Australia "Advance Australia" (Forward, Australia). On September 19, 1912, this coat of arms was replaced by today's coat of arms.

Governor General's Badge

Coat of arms of the Governor General of Australia

The crown and gold acacia form the badge of the Governors General of Australia.

See also

• Flag of Australia
• Flags and coats of arms of the Australian states