Formation Sign : Australian Army Headquarters

Machine woven cotton formation sign of Australian Army Headquarters. The badge, for wear on the left hand sleeve, is a yellow square overlaid with a shield evenly divided horizontally, the upper half being red, and the lower blue. Within the shield in gold and red is a King's crown surmounted by a crowned lion facing to the left.

Introduced to the Australian Army in 1950, and adopted from British Army practice, formation signs were intended to be worn on each sleeve in conjunction with embroidered shoulder titles. This combination, which replaced the traditional Australian system of colour patches, enabled an observer to determine both the wearer's parent formation, and their corps or unit within that formation. The use of formation signs within Australia was discontinued in about 1960, with the introduction of the new, American based 'Pentropic' system of military organisation. Australian units serving overseas, however, continued to wear them for many years. A number of formation signs featured the King's (Tudor) crown. After the death of King George VI in February 1952, and the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in June 1953, this was gradually replaced by the Queen's (Windsor) crown, most formation signs having been updated by the end of 1954.