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# Governor of Western Australia (Australia)

##

Last modified: 2026-08-08 by ian macdonald
Keywords: western australia | governor | union jack | swan (black) | blue ensign | disc (yellow) | wreath: laurel |
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image located by John Moody, 26 July 2026

- Description of the flag
- Historical Governor's flags
  - 1988-2023
  - 1953-1988
  - 1870s-1953

See also:

- Western Australia
- Australia State Governor's flags

## Description of the flag

The photo above showing the car flag of the Governor of Western Australia was sent to me by Ralph Bartlett. He recently visited Western Australia and informs me that the Governor's flag of that State now features the Tudor crown of Charles III as opposed to the St Edwards crown used by Elizabeth II.
John Moody, 26 July 2026

## Historical Governor's flags

### 1988-2023

image by Martin Grieve, 12 Mar 2006

The Western Australian State Governor's flag was changed to a slight variation of the State Flag, with the addition of the St. Edward's Crown above the fly badge on 12 April 1988, after three other states had made a similar change.
Ralph Bartlett, 4 August 2004

This flag was a matter of some curiosity to both Clay Moss and myself. We both had some doubts as to whether the Royal crown was "floated" above or "welded" to the State badge and so Clay wrote to the Western Australian Governor's office to enquire as to which version was correct. The Governor's office very kindly responded that the crown should "float" above the badge - or words to that effect. This then agrees with the various Governor's flags depicted on the World Flag Database web-site.
Martin Grive, 1 March 2006

However, the World Flag database web site might also be wrong. As the Department of Premier and Cabinet web site states:

> The Personal Flag of the Governor of Western Australia is the blue ensign consisting of a blue flag with the Union flag occupying the upper quarter next to the staff, differenced in the fly or half of the flag further from the staff by the State Badge surmounted by the Crown of Saint Edward situated centrally in the fly.

and provides an image where it is clearly shown that the phrase "situated centrally in the fly" means not just the disc surmounted by a Saint Edward's Crown, but the disc and the crown. The crown itself is also larger than that shown on the World Flag Database. The image shown on the Governor of Western Australia web site also shows such a proportion. Other sources, including illustrations in the book Australian Flags [ozf98], published by the Commonwealth Government, also show the different position of the disc on the Governors' flags.
Colin Dobson, 2 March 2006

The Western Australian Governor's office were generous and sent Clay a digital photograph of the Governor's flag. There are clearly many differences from the the picture they sent, to the illustration depicted on the "World Flag Database" web-site.
viz:
Hoist width - 120units
Diameter of circle - 60 units - (This matches Christopher Southworth's 1/2 specification for the disk on the state flag.)
Crown Height - 38 units
Distance from lower edge of flag to lower quadrant of disk = Distance from upper edge of flag to top of cross on crown = 3 units. [presumed that the entire defacement is centralized on the fly]
These are "guesstimates" of course, and in no way are these figures "official".
Martin Grieve, 12 March 2006

### 1953-1988

Previously Western Australia State Governor used the defaced Union Flag.
David Prothero, 24 February 1997

image by Martin Grieve, 1 March 2006

In 1953, the black swan was reversed so that it faced hoistwards.
Martin Grieve, 1 March 2006

### 1870s-1953

image by Martin Grieve, 28 February 2006

The first badge of Western Australia was a yellow disk upon which a silhouetted Black Swan was emblazoned, facing the fly. It was adopted on 27 November 1875, according to Barraclough and Crampton [bcr78] and Znamierowski [zna99], but on 3 January 1870 according to Ausflag.
Martin Grieve, 28 February 2006

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