What are Australia's national symbols?
Last updated 23 October 2026
What are Australia's national symbols?
The booklet names a few national symbols: the Commonwealth Coat of Arms, the golden wattle, the colours green and gold, and the opal. The anthem and the flags are covered in Part 1 too. Each one is small, so you can learn all of them in one sitting.
What is the Commonwealth Coat of Arms?
The Coat of Arms belongs to the Commonwealth and is its formal emblem. It stands for national unity, and it shows the authority and property of the Commonwealth.
What is in the picture:
- a shield in the centre, for the six states and federation
- a kangaroo on one side and an emu on the other, both native animals, holding the shield up
- a gold Commonwealth Star above the shield
- the golden wattle in the background
A trick: read it like a person standing under a banner. Two animals hold the shield, a star shines on top, and wattle fills the back.
What is the national flower?
The golden wattle. This tree has vivid green leaves and, each spring, a mass of golden yellow flowers. It is found mostly in the south-east of the country.
What are the national colours?
Green and gold. They are the colours of the golden wattle: green leaves, gold flowers. Our national sports teams usually wear green and gold.
This gives you a link to remember. Flower, then colours. If you know the wattle, you know the colours.
What is the national gemstone?
The opal. The booklet retells an Aboriginal legend about its colours: they appeared where a rainbow came down to the ground.
What is the national anthem?
"Advance Australia Fair". Know the name, and know that it is sung on occasions of national importance.
Why the symbols matter
The booklet says Australians proudly identify these traditions and symbols as distinctly Australian. They appear on sports uniforms, at national events and at citizenship ceremonies, so you will see them again once you are a citizen. Knowing them also helps you read the National Flag and the Coat of Arms, which share the Commonwealth Star.
A way to remember the lot
Put the symbols in one picture. A kangaroo and an emu hold a shield. A gold star shines above it. Behind them is wattle, so everything is green and gold. In a ring on the finger is an opal.
Say the picture aloud, then draw it on paper without looking. That is better than rereading.
The flags have their own page: what Australia's flags mean. All these symbols sit in Part 1, Australia and its people. Then check what stuck with the free practice test.
Check yourself
- Can you draw the Coat of Arms and name each part?
- Which flower gives Australia its national colours?
- When is the national anthem sung?
Questions people ask
- Which flower stands for Australia?
- The golden wattle. It also gives Australia its national colours, green and gold.
- Do the states have their own flowers?
- Yes. Each state and territory has its own floral emblem as well.
- Where is the national anthem sung?
- On occasions of national importance, including citizenship ceremonies and major sporting events.