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# Mistaken or Dubious Defaced Australian Flags

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Last modified: 2026-04-04 by ian macdonald
Keywords: australia |
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- Introduction
- Blue ensign with HMC in the fly
- Blue or Red Ensign with crown-over-PAPUA badge (not used since 1945)
- Other mistaken or dubious flags
- 'Replica' flags
- Deduced or hypothetical flags

See also:

- Australia
- Index of Australian flag pages
- Proposed Australian government flags

## Introduction

Below are listed examples of British ensigns misinterpreted as Australian ones, for which no hard evidence has been found for the Australian counterparts' existence.

Beneath these mistaken or dubious flags are further discussions concerning deduced and hypothetical British and Australian Blue Ensigns of both Australia and the former external territories. Please note that there is nothing to confirm that any of the flags listed in the further discussion ever existed in reality.
Jeff Thomson, 10 June 2019, 5 September 2021

## Blue ensign with HMC in the fly

Customs flag reported from Port Moresby in 1949. Although strongly suggesting a British Blue Ensign and itself incorrect, it could be alternately interpreted post-war as being based upon the Australian Blue Ensign, which was in effect the post-war Flag of Papua anyway (with a bold black HMC added in this case). Of course if it was ever to have been produced in reality, the black HMC letters would need some white fimbriation to make them stand out. For example, an Australian Customs flag of the time with the white HMC in the lower centre could have smaller black letters laid over the white ones to produce this effect.
Jeff Thomson, 10 June 2019

## Blue or Red Ensign with crown-over-PAPUA badge (not used since 1945)

image by Clay Moss

Reported from Port Moresby in 1954. Means the British ensigns but taken by the Commonwealth government to mean Australian ensigns.
Jeff Thomson, 10 June 2019

image by Ian MacDonald, June 2019

An Australian Blue Ensign version without the crown was known to exist circa 1908, and allegedly again around 1931 to 1942. A British Red Ensign counterpart of the British Blue Ensign version reportedly existed as a P&O Line courtesy flag, but there has been nothing found to indicate that an Australian Red Ensign version ever did.
Jeff Thomson, 10 June 2019

## Other mistaken or dubious flags

Flag report from Australian Army in 1954 includes an Army flag list with two Corps British Blue Ensigns (RAE and RAAOC) similar to their British Corps counterparts. Misinterpreted by Australian government as Australian Blue Ensigns but later corrected.

The PNG customs flag prescription of 1951 was not amended until well after PNG independence in 1975. Therefore the prescribed black letters on the Australian Blue Ensign's customs badge remained as T.P. & N.G.C. in law. Although certainly not impossible, assertions that such flags had the letters amended to T.P.N.G.C. or P.N.G.C. are not supported by the pre-PNG-independence legislation or any other reliable evidence. But in practical terms, as this just means deleting one or two characters, it's hardly a matter of profound importance.
Jeff Thomson, 10 June 2019

## 'Replica' flags

Flag researchers should be aware that the designs and appearances of most defaced Australian Blue Ensigns are uncertain and speculative. In several cases, it isn't even certain whether the defaced flag in question was an Australian Blue Ensign or a British Blue Ensign. In fact, it isn't even certain if some flags ever existed other than as a design prescription in legislation. Any descriptions or images for these flags should be taken with caution even if they are government-sourced, unless they are photographs of an actual flag in use. This especially applies to the more recent 'replica' flags produced by officers of government agencies whose boats (or boats of their predecessor agencies) once flew special ensigns. Despite generally being taken as authoritative because they are sourced from the agencies concerned, some replica flags are just an impression or a guess based upon a brief written or verbal description, and are most likely inaccurate.
Jeff Thomson, 7 December 2019

## Deduced or hypothetical flags

There are other Australian flags, mostly service ensigns, which probably never existed despite some assertions that they did exist. Some are reported in archived documents and have to be considered as a possibility, assuming the report is reliable. Other flags can be deduced by applying changed administrative circumstances to existing legislation involving the flag, particularly customs regulations. And still more flags, by speculatively applying design updates of related flags to dormant flags that had not been confirmed as formally withdrawn from use.
Jeff Thomson, 5 September 2021

1901-1904 AUSTRALIAN CUSTOMS FLAGS (Australian Blue Ensigns)
Although the 1901-1904 Customs flag prescription implies the British Blue Ensign, it could also have been interpreted as the Australian Blue Ensign. This would have meant the Australian Blue Ensign with the original-design Southern Cross and six-point Commonwealth Star to early 1903, and with the redesigned (current) Southern Cross and six-point Commonwealth Star from early 1903 to mid-1904. Both types defaced with 'H.M.C. Australia'.
Jeff Thomson, 5 September 2021

1911-1935 AUSTRALIAN QUARANTINE ENSIGN (British Blue Ensign)
The Quarantine ensign prescription was a 'generic' one of similar wording found in the quarantine laws of many British Empire nations. In most cases the parent flag was referred to as 'a blue ensign' implying a defaced British Blue Ensign that was effectively a standard Empire service ensign. No evidence of this particular flag being flown by Australian Quarantine launches has yet been found.
Jeff Thomson, 5 September 2021

1911-1935 AUSTRALIAN QUARANTINE ENSIGN (alternative design)
There is little reliable information available concerning the Australian Quarantine ensign, with only one known surviving example and one replica. Both have the quarantine badge in the flag lower centre. However it is possible that there were examples flown during the 1920s and 1930s that had the quarantine badge in the true fly centre within an expanded Southern Cross.
Jeff Thomson, 5 September 2021

1945-1951 PAPUAN CUSTOMS FLAG (Australian Blue Ensign)
Had the legally-prescribed Customs flag been flown in Customs service after the war, the changed administrative circumstances suggest that the flag could have been the Australian Blue Ensign with a bold black HMC in the lower centre. Perhaps the bold black H.M.C. letters could have been edged in white, or placed on a white disc for contrast. In reality the undefaced Australian Blue Ensign was flown for Customs purposes after the war.
Jeff Thomson, 5 September 2021

1945-1951 NEW GUINEA CUSTOMS FLAG (Australian Blue Ensign)
Unlike the Papuan case, the prescribed pre-war Customs flag defacement would have been suitable for continued use post-war as it's design was not specific to the discontinued administration. Yet whereas the pre-war flag appears to have had the defacement placed within the Southern Cross, a post-war flag would have been more likely to have the badge placed in the flag lower centre. In reality the undefaced Australian Blue Ensign was flown for Customs purposes after the war.
Jeff Thomson, 5 September 2021

1956-1973 COMMONWEALTH LIGHTHOUSE SERVICE FLAGS (Australian Blue Ensigns)
From the few available documents and photographs it would seem that the badged Australian Blue Ensigns flown at lightstations were replaced by undefaced Australian National Flags from 1956. However, badged Australian Red Ensign counterparts continued in use as ship ensigns until around 1973, having two design changes by 1963. Whether or not these two design changes can be taken as applying to the blue flag, would depend upon whether the blue flag was taken to be withdrawn in 1956 or it's supply suspended for the time being. As this blue flag status from 1956 to 1973 is unclear from the documentation, the design upgrade matter is purely academic.
Jeff Thomson, 5 September 2021

1951-1975 PAPUA AND NEW GUINEA CUSTOMS FLAG (Australian Blue Ensign)
Probably an on-paper flag only, this customs flag is used as a flag icon representing Papua and New Guinea post-war, as it was the only official distinctive territory flag 1951-1971. Until it became fully obsolete with PNG independence in September 1975 there was no change to it's prescription in the Customs Regulations, the defacing letters remaining as T.P.& N.G.C. Any images that may appear with the letters changed to T.P.N.G.C. have been inspired by questionable information in a 1964 letter and any with P.N.G.C. have come about due to misunderstanding when the current amended Customs flag prescription came into force. This Australian National Flag Customs flag, still with T.P.& N.G.C. became obsolete in September 1975 but from mid-1971, use of the PNG National Flag for Customs purposes would have been preferred under the transition to independence arrangements.
Jeff Thomson, 5 September 2021