Description
Physical description
Shoulder patch to HQ Tasmania Command, being a lion rampant, facing left, with long muzzle and flat mane, in red, picked out in brown, on a gold shield with a narrow red border, all on a brown square. Woven.
History note
This badge was issued in facing pairs (see INS 300024 for an example looking right).The design probably derives from the crest of the State coat of Arms, granted in 1917, where the lion is passant. It also appears in passant form in the sixth quarter of the national Arms, granted 1912, (superseding the Arms granted in 1908). This in turn suggests that the lion was a State emblem before being incorporated into a grant of Arms. The fact that the badge is not an exact representation of the heraldic crest possibly explains why this badge was issued as facing pairs.
This is probably the first pattern badge, dating from around 1950, as it is the one identified by Cole in 1953 (see bibliography). Another pattern of this badge shows the lion in more heraldic form, with shorter muzzle and fuller mane (see INS 30025).
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After WW2, the Australian Military Forces were reorganized. This included the formation of the Australian Regular Army in 1947 and regional Commands to administer the Citizen Military Forces. These Commands were very similar to a system introduced in 1939 but replaced in 1942 by a Corps, Divisional and Line of Communication structure. The Commands were geographically-based roughly equating to State territories. Tasmania Command was originally designated as 6th Military District but it is not known whether it wore this badge at that time. The post-war organization included an additional Command for the Northern Territory. Insignia specific to each Command were adopted between 1950 and 1951. In 1960 the Australia Army again re-organized, this time to an American-based "Pentropic" system, at which time the regional Commands, their associated divisional and brigade formations, and their formation signs, were discontinued.
The date when 6th Military District became Tasmania Command (or vice versa?) is not known.