Saturday, September 25, 2010

Falkland Islands - Coat of Arms 1975



2 pences (Falkland Islands Pounds) - Seal & Flag Badge
When the system of defacements to the blue ensign was introduced in 1865, the instruction was that the ensign should be defaced with the 'seal or badge' of the colony. In the Falkland Islands, the circular picture of a ship and a cow/bull/bullock was the seal from 1846 until 1925. So it was used on the first blue ensign sometime after 1865 and probably continued in use until 1948 when the 'sheep above a ship' was used on the flag. But between 1925 and 1948 the seal of the colony was a shield with a port quarter view of a sailing ship on a blue background, overlaid in the lower left half of the shield by a seal (the marine mammal) on a brown background. Was this ever used on a flag?
The 'Bullock Triumphant' was approved 1876. It was based on the existing seal which had been designed when, 'wild cattle were the dominating feature of the Colony'. I have an idea that it was also a punning reference to a Captain Bullock who was involved in the early history of the Falkland Islands.

7 1/2 pences (Falkland Islands Pounds) - Coat of Arms by Royal Warrant (16th October 1925)
Arms granted 16th October 1925. "Per bend Azure and Or, sinister a representation of the ship "Desire" dimidiated and issuant Argent Flag and Pennon charged with a Cross Gules and dexter a Sea Lion proper, with the Motto "Desire the Right"." ... "to be borne for the said Colony of the Falkland Islands upon Seals Shields Banners or otherwise according to the Laws of Arms."
It should have been used as a badge, surrounded by the usual garland, on the Union Flag of the Governor, and on the fly of the Blue Ensign, with no white disc. These details appeared in Amendment 5 (1937) to the 1930 edition of the Admiralty Flag Book. In practice it is likely that the earlier circular badge approved in 1876 continued to be used on both flags until replaced by the current badge in 1948.

10 pences (Falkland Islands Pounds) - Coat of Arms by Royal Warrant (29th September 1948)
The coat of arms of the Falkland Islands was granted to the Falkland Islands on September 29, 1948.
The ship represents the Desire, the vessel in which the English sea-captain, John Davis, is reputed to have discovered the Falkland Islands in 1592.
The motto "Desire the Right" also refers to the ship's name.
The ram represents sheep-farming, until recently the principal economic activity of the islands. The tussock grass shows the most notable native vegetation.

16 pences (Falkland Islands Pounds) - Coat of Arms (Falkland Islands Dependencies) by Royal Warrant (11th March 1952)
The Coat of Arms of the British Antarctic Territory were first granted in 1952, when the territory was still a dependency of the Falkland Islands (along with South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands).
The arms consist of a shield bearing a flaming torch on a wavy background representing the sea. The dexter supporter is a golden lion, representing the United Kingdom. The sinister supporter is an Emperor penguin, representing the native wildlife in the territory. The lion stands on a grass floor, while the penguin stands on an ice floor. The crest is a representation of the RRS Discovery, the research ship used by Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton on their first journey to the Antarctic.
The motto is Research and Discovery, reflecting the aims of the British Antarctic Survey.
The Coat of Arms appear in the fly of the Flag of the British Antarctic Territory.

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