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The national colours of Australia are green and gold. They were established by the Governor-General of Australia, Sir Ninian Stephen, on 19 April 1984; on advice from Prime Minister Bob Hawke.
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The gold colour represents the golden wattle (Acacia pycnantha), which is Australia's national flower. The uniforms of Australia's national sports teams are usually green and gold. The golden wattle flower, and the colours green and gold, are also featured on the Coat of arms of Australia.
The Australian government states that, to be used correctly, the colours are placed side-by-side, with no other colour between them. The exact green and gold colours are specified as Pantone Matching System numbers 348C and 116C. The colours are always referred to as "green and gold", respectively.
Before 1984 three colour combinations unofficially represented Australia:
According to the Australian government, "green and gold have been popularly embraced as Australia’s national sporting colours" since the late 1800s. Nearly every current Australian national sports team wears them (although the hues and proportions of the colours may vary between teams and across eras). Australia's cricket team first wore the colours in 1899, in the form of the baggy green, the cap presented to Australian cricket players.
History
The first Australian national sporting team to wear green and gold was the Australian cricket team that toured England in 1899. Their clothes were the traditional white, but the captain Joe Darling arranged for green and gold caps and blazers to be worn for the opening match of the Ashes series. Previously, the team had had no uniform cap or blazer colours but wore an assortment of club or state colours. The Australian cricket team continued to use the colours thereafter, and in 1908 the colours were ratified as the official team colours for future Australian cricket teams. During subsequent discussions by members of the New South Wales Cricket Association, the colours were reportedly referred to as "gum-tree green" and "wattle-gold".
The Australasian Olympic team adopted "green and wattle" in 1908, but not every team played in the colours. In the 1912 Olympics, an official Australian uniform was adopted for the first time: green vests with gold trimming, and white shorts with green and gold trimming.
Of the football codes, the Australian national soccer team first wore green and gold in 1924 with the Australian national rugby league team and Australia national rugby union team following in 1928 and 1929 respectively.
Sports teams
Teams that wear the green and gold include:
Since 1961, the Wallabies have worn a gold jersey with green lettering and trim; they changed from a primarily green jersey to avoid a colour clash with the Springboks of South Africa.
Companies and organisations
From around 1981 the colours were also used in the livery of the government railway body Australian National, formed by the 1970s merger of Commonwealth Railways with the state-run South Australian Railways and Tasmanian Government Railways. Australian National was privatised in 1997.