Flag Of South Africa State Ensign

The design of the red ensign was modified slightly in 1912 when the shield was placed on a white disc so as to make it more distinguishable.

Flag of south africa state ensign. Various sources inform us that the red ensign with south african flag badge was replaced by the south african national flag as the merchant ensign in 1951 and some writers state that this was in terms of the merchant shipping act 1951. The red ensign continued to be used as the flag of the south african merchant marine until 1951. An ensign is a national flag when used at sea in vexillology or a distinguishing token emblem or badge such as a symbol of office in heraldry. A volksraad resolution of 13 november 1884 specified that miniature flags were to be placed on each of the stripes.

The south africa red ensign was south africa s de facto national flag between 1910 and 1928 and was flown at times from government buildings. The south africa red ensign until 1912 a variant of south africa red ensign with the full coat of arms of south africa on a white disc. This design was not a good flag from a practical point of view as it was difficult to identify at sea in conditions of bad visibility and a new design was proposed on 15 may 1951. Thus the british union flag was added to the blue stripe the south african republic transvaal vierkleur was added to the red stripe the orange free state flag was added to the white stripe and the new cape colony blue ensign to the green stripe.

This flag is available in an official size option. South africa s flag was adopted on april 27 1994 as the civil and state flag and ensign. Flag of south africa 1994 present. Well section 65 of this act in its original form did indeed state that the national flag of the union is hereby declared to be the national colours for all ships registered in the union but the act wasn t brought into operation in 1951.

Most mass produced flags are commonly 150x90cm 5x3 or 90x60cm 3x2 which will often vary from the official size ratio. When the union of south africa was created in 1910 the only flag that had official status within it was the union jack as part of the british empire. Meaning of the flag. Orange white and blue horizontal stripes on the white stripe a backwards union flag towards the hoist the orange free state flag hanging vertically and the flag of transvaal towards the fly.

The word has also given rise to the military rank of ensign a rank of junior officer 1 once responsible for bearing the ensign. The first specifically south african naval ensign was taken into use on 01 september 1946 and comprised a plain white field with the south african national flag in the canton. Flag of south africa 1928 1994. Used for both the union and later republic of south africa.

A new coat of arms was created in september of that year with admiralty warrants being issued in december authorising usage of the arms on a red ensign. Three of the flags colors were taken from the flag of the boer republics while the remaining three colors were taken from the flag of the african national congress.