The Flag Colours
The Southern Cross Flag is Composed of 4 colours
The colours are based on official Australian colours and are shared by all Australians;
- Blue (and White) are from the Australian Flag
- Green and Gold are the Australia's National Colours
More about the meanings and symbolism of the colours used on the Southern Cross flag can be found on the page: Meanings and Symbolism
The Colours for manufacturing the Southern Cross Flag are these official Pantone® colours as recommended by the Australian Government.
- White: Pantone: "Safe"
- Green: Pantone 348 C
- Gold: Pantone 116 C
- Blue: Pantone 280 C
About the other Values
When using physical fabric formats to manufacure on material, use the Pantone specifications. However, Pantone values don't necessarily convert directly to the other uses.
When printing on paper, the CMYK colours are preferable.
The RGB / HEX colours are preferable for on-screen or digital reproductions. RGB / HEX values can be used interchangeably
- Pantone for physical fabric formats
- CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, blacK) for printing on paper
- RGB (Red, Green, Blue) is used digital reproduction
- HEX or (Hexadecimal) is used digital reproduction
Technical Info:
RGB / HEX values were used when creating the SVG, WEBP, and PNG image files.
- For a list of resources used to create the flag drawings visit the Resources page
- For a list of free projects to create or colour the flag visit the Projects page
White
The White of the Southern Cross Flag is from many different flags including the Australian Flags
- Pantone: Safe
- CMYK: 0%, 0%, 0%, 0%
- RGB: 255, 255, 255
- HEX: #FFFFFF
Green
The Green of the Southern Cross Flag comes directly from the Australian National Sporting Colours
- Pantone: 348C
- CMYK: 100%, 0%, 54%, 48%
- RGB: 0, 132, 61
- HEX: #00843D
Gold
The Gold of the Southern Cross Flag comes directly from the Australian National Sporting Colours
- Pantone: 116C
- CMYK: 0%, 20%, 100%, 0%
- RGB: 255, 205, 0
- HEX: #FFCD00
Blue
The Blue of the Southern Cross Flag is the official blue from the Australian Blue Ensign
- Pantone: 280C
- CMYK: 100%, 80%, 0%, 0%
- RGB 0, 0, 139
- HEX: #00008B
A note about Blue.
When manufacturing the flag the Pantone colours for the Australian blue flag and The British blue ensign are the same value Pantone 280C.
The digital values for blue differ, both CMYK (for printing) and the HEX / RGB for digital use are brighter on the Australian Flag.
Do use the CMYK & RGB / HEX values that are listed above as they are the correct official digital and print colours of the Australian flag for digital, such as website and when printed.
It's not just blue, red is also slightly different for the digital values. The Red Pantone and hex value used on the Australian flag are Pantone185C & hex #FF0000. Both a lighter shade than the red used on the British flag which are Pantone 186C & hex #C8102E.
Why were the digital values changed?
I have not been able to find a definitive answer, but my thoughts are to take into account the much brighter Australian sunshine. When the sun shines on and through the Australian flag, as in this picture, the blue is strikingly more vibrant than when compared to the light in the UK. On a dull grey day in Australia the flag takes on the much darker shade of blue.
Why is this important?
There are literally hundreds of flags based on the British blue ensign, and some websites and authorities are unaware or deliberately choose not to display the correct Australian digital blue.
Wikipedia's Flag of Australia page is one of the few websites to list the correct values as set out by The Australian Government's Style Manual for Authors, Editors and Printers for depicting the flag in print and on screen.
