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Queensland Red Ensign

by dylan crawfoot

Queensland Red Ensign

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Queensland Red Ensign

A note on a possible red ensign of Queensland, prior to 1901:

Following the 1865 British Admiralty directive, colonial war vessels and other ships employed in the service of public office were required to fly the British Blue Ensign bearing the Queensland badge. Merchant ships, however, used the British Red Ensign, as had been the practice on British merchant ships since 1674. Several Australian colonies flew red ensigns with distinctive badges as their merchant flags until federation in 1901, after which the Australian Red Ensign was adopted. I don't know if any of these defaced red ensigns were ever made official.

In Customs House on Queen Street in Brisbane, there is a large picture dated 1899, featuring photographs of the men working for Customs at that time. At the top of the picture is a painted representation of the Customs coat of arms and what seems to be a merchant flag. The flag is a British Red Ensign, featuring a crown and a gold, six-pointed star in the fly. Inside the star is a gold letter Q. The reverse side of the flag features the crown only. It is possible that this was the Queensland merchant flag, although it may simply have been the flag of the Customs Office. It is notable in that it uses a design that differs from the Queensland state badge used on the Blue Ensign. The Q obviously marks it out as being a Queensland emblem, and it may even have been a rejected design when the badge for the Blue Ensign was selected in 1876.

Does anyone know if such a Red Ensign was ever approved by the UK?
Dylan Crawfoot, 31 December 1998

The flag design has not been previously observed by Australian vexillologists.

It is possible that the flag was that of the Queensland Customs Department, but there is no known record of this. A number of Australian port authorities (such as the Maritime Services Board of NSW) used defaced blue ensigns, there is no record of the use of a Brisbane Port flag and none is listed in Malcolm Farrow's Colours of the Fleet.

I can categorically state, based on my own archival research, that the badge was not one of the alternate designs considered in 1876 for the Queensland flag badge. A Victorian red ensign was officially authorised in 1870, but this was the only Australian colony so authorised. Some red ensigns with Australian colonial badges do exist, but these were unauthorised and most probably used on land by persons not entitled to use the Colonial government's blue ensign. The flag pictured is unlikely to have any British official status.

The badge has strong resemblance to the badges of Nigeria (with its 6 pointed star and central crown) and British India (with Star of India within collar and surmounted by Crown) - but is presumably of local Queensland design with no connection to these two badges.
Ralph Kelly, 3 January 1999

I agree with Ralph Kelly that this is more likely to be the ensign of a government