---
title: 'Every Australian State and Territory Flag Ranked by Tier'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=_sX0QCxoUIc'
video_id: '_sX0QCxoUIc'
date: 2026-07-31
duration_sec: 469
---

# Every Australian State and Territory Flag Ranked by Tier

> Source: [Every Australian State and Territory Flag Ranked by Tier](https://youtube.com/watch?v=_sX0QCxoUIc)

## Summary

This video ranks the flags of every Australian state and territory, from the colonial Union Jack designs to modern minimalist flags like the Northern Territory's. The host judges each flag on distinctiveness, local symbolism, and design quality, mixing humor with genuine vexillological critique.

### Key Points

- **Western Australia: The Black Swan** [00:17] — The flag combines a mandatory Union Jack with a Black Swan in a yellow spotlight. The Black Swan is native to Western Australia, making the flag unambiguous. The host ranks it in A tier.
- **South Australia: The Piping Shrike** [00:41] — Uses the same colonial template: Union Jack plus a native bird in a circle. The white-backed magpie (piping shrike) looking over its shoulder is a subspecies localized to South Australia. Ranked B tier for birds.
- **Tasmania: The Lion Problem** [01:20] — A lion on the flag is redundant given the Union Jack, while Tasmania has iconic animals like the thylacine (extinct), Tasmanian devil, eastern quoll, and swamp antechinus. Placed in D tier for wasting local fauna.
- **New South Wales: Redundant English Symbols** [02:01] — The flag features a lion on a Cross of St George with stars — two overlapping English symbols. The host jokes a Welsh dragon would be more distinctive. D tier for omission.
- **Queensland: The Maltese Cross Confusion** [02:26] — The crown makes sense for 'Queensland,' but the Maltese cross is obscure — the Maltese community is tiny and traditional foods are hard to find. Rated F.
- **Victoria: Plagiarism in Flag Form** [03:07] — Victoria's flag is Australia's flag with the Commonwealth star removed and a crown added, easily confused with the national or NZ flag. It breaks the badge pattern of other state flags and earns an X grade for plagiarism.
- **Northern Territory: The Standard to Follow** [03:37] — Features the Southern Cross, orange-red soil, and the radially symmetric Stuart desert pea flower. Its elegance approaches Japanese prefecture flag design. Top tier.
- **ACT: Simplified but Missed Potential** [04:35] — The ACT follows NT's limited palette but keeps a simplified coat of arms instead of local symbols. 'Canberra' derives from an Aboriginal word for 'meeting place' (sometimes 'clear cleavage'), and the host suggests a flag honoring the local mountains.
- **Christmas Island: Good Design Fundamentals** [05:07] — Combines a bird of paradise with a map of the island; removing either element makes the flag worse, the mark of a well-balanced design. Ranked B, alongside Papua New Guinea's similar thematic flag.
- **Cocos (Keeling) Islands: Identity in Color** [05:54] — Green and gold (Australia's colors) with a crescent moon gives an Islamic feel — fitting, as the Cocos are the only Australian territory with a Muslim-majority population, located in the southern Malay archipelago. S tier.
- **Norfolk Island: Distinctive Copy** [06:25] — Echoes Canada's flag but stays distinct with a Norfolk pine flanked by green bands — easy to recognize with clear symbology. A tier.
- **The Flagless Territories** [06:56] — Jarvis Bay, Australian Antarctic Territory, Coral Sea Islands, Ashmore and Cartier, and Heard & McDonald Islands have no flags or permanent populations, so they're excluded from the ranking.

### Conclusion

The video concludes by noting the flagless territories (Jarvis Bay, Antarctic, Coral Sea, Ashmore and Cartier, Heard and McDonald) and argues that the best Australian flags are the ones that break the colonial template and reflect local identity.

## Transcript

keep up momentum while we are doing research and work on some more heavier videos I've seen people rank the state and territory flags of United States and of Canada however I haven't seen anybody do one for Australia so let's do that
Western Australia we have the Union Jack in the top left which is kind of mandatory for commonwealth flags of a certain era so we have to suffer that
then we have a Black Swan in a yellow Spotlight the Black Swan is a bird native to Western Australia and very notable about it it unambiguously says
Western Australia I am going to put you into eight here for aquatic avine South Australia this has the same scheme as Western Australia Union Jack and Native
bird in a circle the bird is the white-backed magpie or piping shrike is standing with its back to us looking over its shoulder all flirty-like the
over its shoulder all flirty-like the exact subspecies depicted is localized exact subspecies depicted is localized to south Australia and I actually like birds a lot so I'm going to put this one in B tier for bird Tasmania why is there
a lion on your flag is it to symbolize England but you have a perfectly good England but you have a perfectly good Union Jack to do that and Tasmania you Union Jack to do that and Tasmania you have so many good animals to put on your
flag you could put a Tasmanian tiger on the flag AKA a Tyler scene Okay Tyler scenes are extinct and that might be considered a bad move for a flag however so many other carnivorous marsupials that are native to Tasmania the
Tasmanian Devil or is that too diabolical for Van diemen's land how about the eastern qual or the swamp anticlinus so it gets at D tier 4 did
not include a desireid New South Wales another lion this time it is crucified on a cross with stars it is derived from the cross of saint George so now we have
two redundant symbols of England but this is New South Wales if you're going to include a symbol from the British Isles why not a Welsh Dragon D tier 4
did not include a dragon Queensland well there's no Lion on it and I guess if you're going to call something Queensland the crown makes sense but
then why this Maltese cross Queensland has a tiny Maltese Community like it is almost impossible to get traditional Maltese foods like kidney or pastez there is this one place that sells them but you have to go on a massive road
trip out of the city just to get there and it's been ages since I've had my mouth around a nice warm paste what was I speaking about oh yeah Flags what was I speaking about oh yeah Flags f for failure as a flag Victoria
Victoria this is just the Australian flag with the Commonwealth star removed and a crown added it's easy to mistake this for the Australian flag or the New Zealand flag it breaks with the pattern that all the other state flags are set
up with the rounds with the little badge on the lower right corner it is okay to be inspired by another person's work and use that inspiration to do something distinct and your own what is not okay is to make Trivial changes and try and
pass it off as your own you get an X grade and a meeting with the disciplinary committee for plagiarism Northern Territory in contrast to Northern Territory in contrast to Victoria this is beautiful it has the
level of Elegance of approaching a Japanese prefecture flag the Southern Cross on the left for the night start guys the orange red of the soil the radial symmetry of the Stuart desert pea flower this is how flag design should be
flower this is how flag design should be done asked here for Stewart desert P Australian Capital territory I really like how it has followed the pattern of the Northern Territory a nice limited palette but it then has a simplified
coat of arms on it I'll give points for simplifying the coat of arms but to me I would rather have something that is more simple and derived from the place where
simple and derived from the place where it is this act for all practical purposes is Canberra and it surrounds the name Canberra derived from a word in the local Aboriginal language meaning meeting place although it can be
meeting place although it can be interpreted as meaning clear cleavage so I want to suggest a flag that has some sort of symbolic representation of Mount gambly and mount I knees which are the two mountains overlooking Canberra and
look like breasts so I'm going to classify this one as C for Canberra Christmas Island okay you're ahead already by including a bird of paradise already by including a bird of paradise along with a map of the island I was
going to say that the map in the middle seems to be overdoing it but when I remove the map it then looks sort of underdone a good design is one where if you remove any element it becomes less and judged by that standard this is a
good design also here is the flag of Papua New Guinea so I like the Thematic line between the two of them I'm going to give you B for being right on the border the Cocos AKA Keeling Islands green and gold are
Australia's national colors but a green flag with a crescent moon this is really giving me Islamic Vibes like if you told me this was a flag of it Islamic nation in the southern part of the Malay archipelago I would instantly Believe Me
archipelago I would instantly Believe Me Hold on let me know and check something Hold on let me know and check something okay the Cocos islands are the only Australian territory with a majority Muslim population and it is located in
the southern part of the Malay archipelago so this flag is directly evocative of the territory's nature s tier for Southeast Asia Norfolk Island tier for Southeast Asia Norfolk Island Norfolk Island did you copy Canada's
flag well unlike Victoria you made yours distinct and different enough to be its own thing the Norfolk pine in the middle flanked by bands of green easy to recognize clear symbology I am going to give you a for Abba that's it the flags
of every Australian State and territory that has a flag excluding the flagless territories of Jarvis Bay territory which is just an extension of the act the Australian Antarctic territory which is just scientists and Penguins the
Coral Sea Islands which is just four people Ashmore and Carter Islands which has no permanent residence just Indonesian fishermen who visit every so often and the herd islands and McDonald's Islands which have absolutely
McDonald's Islands which have absolutely nobody there thank you for watching this nobody there thank you for watching this little quick video on Australia's Flags if you want more content of possibly random nature Please Subscribe if you
have subscribed thank you very much goodbye