View source for Flag of South Australia

{{short description|Australian state flag}}
{{Use Australian English|date=July 2022}}
{{Infobox flag
|Name = South Australia
|Image = Flag of South Australia.svg
|Nickname =
|Morenicks =
|Use = 110000
|Symbol ={{FIAV|110000}}{{FIAV|normal}}{{FIAV|Mirror}}
|Proportion = 1:2
|Adoption = {{start date and age|1904}}
|Design =A British blue ensign with the [[coat of arms of South Australia|state badge]] in the fly 
}}
The current state flag of [[South Australia]], was officially adopted in 1904.

The flag is based on the [[Defacement (flag)|defaced]] British [[Blue Ensign]] with the state badge located in the [[Flag terminology#Description of standard flag parts and terms|fly]]. The badge is a gold disc featuring a [[piping shrike]] with its wings outstretched. The badge is believed to have been originally designed by Robert Craig, a teacher at the School of Arts in Adelaide, and officially gazetted on 14 January 1904.<ref>[http://www.premcab.sa.gov.au/emblems/shrike1.htm  Department of Premier & Cabinet > State Badge of South Australia] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120716230046/http://www.premcab.sa.gov.au/emblems/shrike1.htm |date=July 16, 2012 }} Accessed 13 October 2011.</ref>

== Design ==
The flag uses the same basic template as the [[List of Australian flags|flag of every other Australian state]], a [[Blue Ensign|blue field]] with the [[Union Jack]] on the canton and a unique design on the fly. In this case, the seal is a yellow disc, representing the sun, with a [[piping shrike]] perched on a [[eucalyptus]] tree branch. The Piping Shrike is more commonly known as a [[Australian magpie#Subspecies|White-backed Magpie]].<ref name="Australian Bird Names: Origins and Meanings">{{cite book |last1=Fraser |first1=Ian |title=Australian Bird Names: Origins and Meanings |last2=Gray |first2=Jeannie |date=2019 |publisher=CSIRO Publishing |isbn=9781486311637 |location=Clayton South, Victoria, Australia}}</ref><ref name="The story of the Piping Shrike">{{cite book |last1=Kirby |first1=Miles |title=Accepted without pomegranate: The story of the piping shrike |date=1986 |publisher=M. Kirby |edition=Original |location=Adelaide |ref=State Library of SA 929.82099423}}</ref><ref name="The state emblem of SA">{{cite web |date=14 September 2006 |title=The state emblem of SA |url=https://www.samemory.sa.gov.au/site/page.cfm?u=384 |access-date=30 March 2022 |website=SA Memory: State Library of SA |publisher=State Library of SA}}</ref><ref name="South Australia State ensignia">{{cite web |date=28 March 2019 |title=Using the state insignia and emblems |url=https://www.dpc.sa.gov.au/responsibilities/state-protocols-acknowledgements/using-the-state-insignia-and-emblems |access-date=30 March 2022 |publisher=Government of South Australia}}</ref>

=== Colours ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
!Scheme
! scope="col" style="background:#002855; color:white;" |Blue
! scope="col" style="background:white; color:black;" |White
! scope="col" style="background:#d50032; color:white;" |Red
! scope="col" style="background:#ffa300; color:black;" |Gold
|-
!Refs
|
|
|
|<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cabinet |first=Department of the Premier and |date=2019-03-28 |title=Using the state insignia and emblems |url=https://www.dpc.sa.gov.au/responsibilities/state-protocols-acknowledgements/using-the-state-insignia-and-emblems |access-date=2025-09-10 |website=Department of the Premier and Cabinet |language=en-AU}}</ref>
|-
! scope="row" |[[Pantone]] (paper)
|295 C
|Safe
|199 C
|137 C
|-
! scope="row" |[[Web colors|HEX]]
|#002855
|#FFFFFF
|#d50032
|#ffa300
|-
! scope="row" |[[CMYK color model|CMYK]]
|100, 53, 0, 67
|0, 0, 0, 0
|0, 100, 77, 16
|0, 36, 100, 0
|-
! scope="row" |[[RGB color model|RGB]]
|0, 40, 85
|255, 255, 255
|214, 0, 49
|255, 163, 0
|}

== History ==
{{Multiple image
| image1 = Flag of South Australia (1870–1876).svg
| height1 = 100
| caption1 = Flag between 1870–1876
| image2 = Flag of South Australia (1876–1904).svg
| height2 = 100
| caption2 = Flag between 1876–1904
}} 
=== Previous flags ===
The first flag of South Australia was adopted in 1870.  It too was a defaced British Blue Ensign but with a black disc in the fly containing the [[Crux|Southern Cross]] and the two pointers ([[Alpha Centauri|Alpha]] and [[Beta Centauri]]).

South Australia then adopted a second flag in 1876, also a Blue Ensign, with a new badge.  The badge design was an artistic rendition of the arrival of [[Britannia]] (a white woman in flowing garb and holding a shield, representing the new settlers) meeting an [[Australian Aborigine|Aboriginal]] sitting with a spear on a rocky shoreline.  A [[kangaroo]] appears to be carved into the rocks behind the Aboriginal.  This flag was adopted after a request from the [[Colonial Office]] for a new design over the old one due to its similarity to the flags of [[Flag of New Zealand|New Zealand]] and [[Flag of Victoria (Australia)|Victoria]].

=== Current design ===
The badge design adopted in 1876 was deemed to complex by some, and a request was sent to [[Frederick Holder]], then the premier of South Australia to make the seal simpler.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Flag of South Australia {{!}} Meaning, Design & History {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/flag-of-South-Australia |access-date=2025-09-10 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> It was apparently designed by Robert Craig, and featured a yellow disc representing the sun, with a magpie (piping shrike) on top of it. On Wednesday 27 February 1901 the painting by H.P Gill<ref name="painting2">[https://www.flickr.com/photos/state-records-sa/23505493065/in/photostream/ original water colour painting of the Piping Shrike], State Records of South Australia https://www.archives.sa.gov.au/, [[Flickr]]</ref> was approved by both the Governor and the Premier of South Australia as the design of the new State Badge for South Australia. The Premier wrote on the back of the painting “Accepted (without pomegranate)”. The Governor wrote the following heraldic description on the back of the painting: “The rising sun – or – Thereon an Australian piping shrike displayed proper – under a pomegranate flower amid leaves and standing on a gum-staff, raguly, gules and vert.” (or = gold, displayed proper = in its natural colours, raguly = with oblique lines, gules = red, vert = green). The Governor removed the reference to the pomegranate, and crossed out gum and changed gum-staff to staff of gum tree.<ref name="The story of the Piping Shrike2">{{cite book |last1=Kirby |first1=Miles |title=Accepted without pomegranate: The story of the piping shrike |date=1986 |publisher=M. Kirby |edition=Original |location=Adelaide |ref=State Library of SA 929.82099423}}</ref> It was adopted on January 13, 1904 and the seal also appears on the [[Coat of arms of South Australia]], which was introduced 80 years later. 

Though the state flag was originally intended for use only on government buildings, in 1908 the [[Government of South Australia]] began encouraging the use of it by private citizens.<ref>[https://www.pmc.gov.au/resources/australian-symbols-booklet/state-and-territory-symbols/symbols-south-australia The symbols of South Australia]</ref>

=== Proposal for a new flag ===
On 29 October 2016, a motion to adopt a new, "more multicultural" state flag was passed at the [[Australian Labor Party (South Australian Branch)|South Australian Labor Party]] conference.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/state-government-considers-adopting-a-more-multicultural-south-australian-flag/news-story/c0bc9baee412ced565b301cbfd46bb19 |title=State Government considers adopting a "more multicultural" South Australian flag |newspaper=The Advertiser |date=29 October 2016 |access-date=31 December 2020 |first=Adam |last=Langenberg}}</ref> The [[Government of South Australia|State Government]] did not act on this proposal before Labor lost office at the [[2018 South Australian state election|2018 state election]].

== Regulation and use ==
According to section 3A of the Unauthorised Documents Act 1916:
{{Blockquote|text=Any person who, without the permission of the Minister—
(a) prints, publishes or manufactures; or<br>
(b) causes to be printed, published or manufactured,
any document, material or object incorporating, depicting or in the form of, a
prescribed emblem—<br>
(c) for any commercial purpose; and<br>
(d) in such a manner as to suggest that the document, material or object has
official significance,<br>
shall be guilty of an offence.}}

==Governor's flag==
The [[governor of South Australia]], being the representative of the South Australian head of state, the [[Monarchy of Australia|king of Australia]], is officially granted a flag for use on all official occasions. It is identical in design and construction to the flag of South Australia, except that it features a [[Tudor Crown]] above the badge to represent vice-regal power.
{{gallery|mode=nolines|align=center|perrow=5|whitebg=y|height=100
|File:Flag of the Governor of South Australia (1870-1876).svg|{{FIAV|historical}} Standard of the governor 1870–1876
|File:Flag of the Governor of South Australia (1876–1904).svg|{{FIAV|historical}} Standard of the governor 1876–1904
|File:Flag of the Governor of South Australia (1904–1975).svg|{{FIAV|historical}} Standard of the governor 1904–1975
|File:Flag of the Governor of South Australia.svg|{{FIAV|historical}} Standard of the governor 1975–2024
|File:Flag of the Governor of South Australia 2024.svg|{{FIAV|normal}} Standard of the governor of South Australia
}}

== See also ==
*[[Coat of arms of South Australia]]
*[[List of Australian flags]]
*[[Flags of the governors of the Australian states]]

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160101122141/http://www.sa.gov.au/about-sa/state-emblems-and-insignia The State Flag of South Australia]
* {{FOTW|id=au-sa|title=South Australia}}
* [http://www.ausflag.com.au/south_australia_1870-1876.asp 1870 flag]

{{Portal bar|Heraldry|South Australia}}
{{Australian Flags}}
{{Union Flag}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:South Australia, Flag of}}
[[Category:Emblems of South Australia|Flag]]
[[Category:1904 establishments in Australia]]
[[Category:Flags introduced in 1904]]
[[Category:Flags of states of Australia]]
[[Category:Blue Ensigns]]
[[Category:Society in South Australia]]
[[Category:Flags displaying animals]]
[[Category:Flags with cantons]]
[[Category:Flags that incorporate the Union Jack]]