WESTERN AUSTRALIAN STATE EMBLEMS

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Coat of Arms

Shield contains a silver field with a rippled blue and silver base. A black swan sits upon the symbolized water. A Royal crown sits above the shield and red and green kangaroo paws (Anigozanthos manglesii) frame the crown.

Two red kangaroos (Macropus rufus) clutching unadorned boomerangs support the shield.

A Royal warrant for this design was granted on March 17 1969.

State Flag

In use since 1870 the flag was revised in 1953 so that the swan faced the flag pole. If you ignore the change of direction of the swan, the W.A. state flag is the oldest of all state flags in Australia.

Bird Emblem

The black swan (Cygnus atratus)has been used as a faunal emblem since 1973.

Animal Emblem

Numbat or Banded ant eater (Myrmecbius fasciatus.)was adopted as a faunal emblem on October 2nd 1973.

Marine Emblem

The whale shark (Rhincodon typus) was declared the state's marine emblem on November 12th 2013.

Floral Emblem

The red and green kangaroo paw (Anigozanthos manglesii) has been used as the floral emblem since 1960.

Fossil Emblem

The Gogo fish (Mcnamaraspis kaprios) has been used as a fossil emblem since 1995

The Gogo formation is part of the remains of a giant coral reef system that exists in the Fitzroy Crossing region of W.A. The sediments laid down for these formations are about 375 million years old and contain many well preserved fossils of fishes. These are some of the best preserved early fish fossils in the world.

The Gogo fish is a placoderms and would have been around 250mm long with a shark like body. The fossils found indicate that the fish had a well developed sense of smell and this combined with it's sharp teeth indicate that it was a predatory fish.

The Gogo fish was fist discovered in 1986 by palaeontologist Dr John Long. It was not until 1995 that it was fully identified and described.

the name Mcnamaraspis translates to McNamara's Shield and was given in honour of the work done on fossil research by Dr Ken McNamara. Kaprios translates as 'boar like' and refers to the boar like tusks on the fish's lower jaw.

The Gogo formation takes its name from the Gogo Station in the Kimberley.

State Badge

This badge features a black swan on a yellow background and was adopted in 1829.

State Colours

The official state colours are gold and black.

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