Coat of Arms
Sometimes incorrectly called a "crest", the "achievement" or coat of arms on the Baggy Green cap is a pre-federation symbol representing Australian commercial endeavours of the time: wool-growing, shipping, mining and agriculture.
It consists of: a crest (being a rising sun); over a torse (or wreath) of red and gold; over a shield (bearing images of a golden fleece, a sailing ship, a pick-axe and shovel and a garb of wheat, all quartered by a southern cross); supporters (being a kangaroo and an emu); all over a motto ("Australia") on a scroll.
Contrary to a common belief, with the exception of the supporters and the motto, this coat of arms is entirely different to the present and any former national coat of arms. Since 1912 the Coat of Arms of Australia has borne the badges of the six Australian states, enclosed and unified on a shield under a wreath of blue and gold bearing a Commonwealth Star.
The device on the cap is sometimes referred to as Australia's Cricket Coat of Arms, although it has otherwise been abandoned by Cricket Australia. It is replicated on the protective helmet, but not on any other badged item of clothing worn by the Australian team. These now feature the current logogram of Cricket Australia, being a modern distorted shield with the ubiquitous Southern Cross on a green and gold field of a rising (or perhaps, setting) sun and a wicket casting a shadow on a pitch.
Read more about this topic: Baggy Green
Famous quotes containing the words coat and/or arms:
“He will watch you while you work, and always has a good word to say or a quip to snap at you to keep you cheered up, but when it comes to taking off his coat and lending a hand,... he is an Oriental incense-holder on the guest-room mantle.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)
“Know that, on the right hand of the Indies, there is an island called California, very near to the Terrestrial Paradise, which was peopled with black women.... Their arms were all of gold.”
—For the State of California, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)