# Australian national sports teams **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 11, 2003, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-national-sports-teams/187814 "2003-07-11T20:53:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![paperbackwriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@paperbackwriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paperbackwriter)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-national-sports-teams/187814/1 "2003-07-11T20:53:56Z")
From what I can tell, the “official” colors for national teams or national champions in Australia are Yellow and Green. For example: Current national road champion [Stuart O’Grady](http://www.cyclingnews.com/tour.php?id=photos/2003/tour03/stage6/JT/002ogrady), or the [women’s olympic basketball team](http://www.abc.net.au/olympics/results/oly_results_today_BASKETBALL.htm). 1. Did the National Institute for Sport or the Olympic Committee or some other organization declare these to be the “official” team colors? 2. Where did this color combination come from? 3. Is supposed to be representative of anything? I ask because most “national” teams use colors derived from the national flag, but yellow & green don’t have anything to do with [Australia’s flag](http://www.fotw.net/flags/au.html). Is there something obvious that I’m missing? ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-national-sports-teams/187814/2 "2003-07-11T22:02:49Z")
Golden Wattle Acacia pycnantha Floral Emblem of Australia … Australians representing their country in international sporting events usually wear the national colours, green and gold, said to be based on wattle foliage and flowers. [http://www.anbg.gov.au/emblems/aust.emblem.html](http://www.anbg.gov.au/emblems/aust.emblem.html) ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-national-sports-teams/187814/3 "2003-07-11T22:04:57Z")
> [@](#): > > 1. Did the National Institute for Sport or the Olympic Committee or some other organization declare these to be the “official” team colors? The National Colours The Governor-General’s Proclamation of 19 April 1984 fixed green and gold as the official colours of Australia. [http://www.aph.gov.au/library/handbook/symbols.htm](http://www.aph.gov.au/library/handbook/symbols.htm) ---
**Author:** ![paperbackwriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@paperbackwriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paperbackwriter)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-national-sports-teams/187814/4 "2003-07-11T22:10:19Z")
Ah, very simple, then. Thanks. And I promise to make no reference to “wattling” athletes. I’m sure you’ve heard it before. ---
**Author:** ![Agback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/977dab/32.png) [@Agback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agback)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-national-sports-teams/187814/5 "2003-07-11T22:19:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by paperbackwriter \* > **From what I can tell, the “official” colors for national teams or national champions in Australia are Yellow and Green.** Conventionally described as 'Green and Gold". > [@](#): > > **1. Did the National Institute for Sport or the Olympic Committee or some other organization declare these to be the “official” team colors?** I don’t think so. They started out as the colours of the Australian Cricket team in 1899, then were adopted by the Olympic Team in 1908 and the Australian Rugby League team in 1928 (see [http://rl1908.com/kangaroos1928.htm](http://rl1908.com/kangaroos1928.htm)), and then got borrowed more and more widely. They weren’t adopted as ‘official’ until 1984 (see [http://www.geobop.com/Symbols/world/australia/](http://www.geobop.com/Symbols/world/australia/)), when Federal Cabinet made a proclamation recognising the status quo. Note that 1899 was before Federation, a time when the only Australian institutions that existed were sporting teams. > [@](#): > > **2. Where did this color combination come from? > 3. Is supposed to be representative of anything?** I was told in primary school that it is supposed to represent the foliage and flowers of Australia’s national flower, the wattle (_Mimosa_. There was a patriotic song to his effect, which I have completely forgotten. > [@](#): > > **I ask because most “national” teams use colors derived from the national flag, but yellow & green don’t have anything to do with [Australia’s flag](http://www.fotw.net/flags/au.html).** Red, white, and blue is getting a bit crowded, especially considering that we play a lot of sporting fixtures against New Zealand and the UK. I guess none of the Four Nations uses all three colours, though. Also, note that 1899 was before there was an Australian flag. Regards, Agback ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-national-sports-teams/187814/6 "2003-07-11T23:00:14Z")
> [@](#): > > Australia’s national flower, the wattle (Mimosa) th tch. And you an Aussie too. Australia’s national flower is an Acacia. Mimosas are pretty thin on the ground down there, and most of those are exotic weeds. ---
**Author:** ![Primaflora](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/898d66/32.png) [@Primaflora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Primaflora)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-national-sports-teams/187814/7 "2003-07-11T23:05:02Z")
I’m an import but I always thought wattle=mimosa= acacia. What’s the difference? ---
**Author:** ![sarcophilus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f4b2a3/32.png) [@sarcophilus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sarcophilus)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-national-sports-teams/187814/8 "2003-07-11T23:06:20Z")
here is the wattle symbol of our land you can stick it in a bottle or hold it in your hand amen ---
**Author:** ![sarcophilus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f4b2a3/32.png) [@sarcophilus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sarcophilus)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-national-sports-teams/187814/9 "2003-07-11T23:13:14Z")
Wattles are Acacia genus mainly confined to Australia and Africa, Mimosa is an allied but different genus to Acacia generally coming from the Americas. Both are of the family Fabaceae subfamily Mimosoideae ---
**Author:** ![sarcophilus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f4b2a3/32.png) [@sarcophilus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sarcophilus)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-national-sports-teams/187814/10 "2003-07-11T23:17:14Z")
Apparently in other countries Australian acacias are sold as florists mimosa. So Botanica tells me ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-national-sports-teams/187814/11 "2003-07-11T23:22:48Z")
Actually wattles are exclusively Australian. It’s an Australian term for some members of the genus Acacia. The wattles aren’t a specific group of Acacia with any taxonomic relationships, it’s just a common name in Australia. Mimosa is strictly speaking another genus. The most famous of these in Australia is the giant sensitive plant or black mimosa, Mimosa pigra, which is a serious weed in some parts of the country. However some Acacias with divided leaves also get called mimosa, particulalry in Australia, but also in Southern Africa and the US. Most notable amongst these is A. farnesiana, or prickly mimosa. This species occurs ‘naturally’ in all three areas despite evolving in Central America. A. pycnantha, the Australian floral emblem, has solid phyllodes and can never be considered a mimosa. Hope that confused things no end. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-national-sports-teams/187814/12 "2003-07-11T23:26:37Z")
Oh yeah, these days Mimosa and Acacia are placed int he family Mimosacaea. Fabaceae is reserved for the ture legumes. > [@](#): > > in other countries Australian acacias are sold as florists mimosa Only those species with true leaves which are divided and fernlike. This is pretty are amongst Australian Acacias. Most have lost their levaes altogether and have reorted to using the petiole for photsynthesis. ---
**Author:** ![Tony\_Barber\_s\_Underwear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/58f4c7/32.png) [@Tony\_Barber\_s\_Underwear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tony_Barber_s_Underwear)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-national-sports-teams/187814/13 "2003-07-12T01:04:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by paperbackwriter \* > \*\*From what I can tell, the “official” colors for national teams or national champions in Australia are Yellow and Green. > \*\* If I could just [mis]quote **Bill Lawrie** in Billy Birmingham’s 12th Man series: > [@](#): > > Canary Yellow? That’s Australian Gold my friend, and don’t you fucking forget it! - Bubba ---
**Author:** ![Agback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/977dab/32.png) [@Agback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agback)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-national-sports-teams/187814/14 "2003-07-12T01:50:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Blake \* > \*\*th tch. And you an Aussie too. Australia’s national flower is an Acacia. Mimosas are pretty thin on the ground down there, and most of those are exotic weeds. \*\* All acacias are mimosas. And if you check the official descriptions of the insignia of the Order of Australia, you will find the flowers &c blazened as ‘Mimosa’. Regards, Agback ---
**Author:** ![Tsubaki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@Tsubaki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tsubaki)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-national-sports-teams/187814/15 "2003-07-12T03:14:48Z")
> [@](#): > > Canary Yellow? That’s Australian Gold my friend, and don’t you fucking forget it! Great timing, **TBU**! ---
**Author:** ![Jake4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bc8723/32.png) [@Jake4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake4)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-national-sports-teams/187814/16 "2003-07-12T03:20:59Z")
What does the flower mimosa have to do with the alcoholic beverage mimosa? Coloring? Nothing? ---
**Author:** ![Boo\_Boo\_Foo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@Boo\_Boo\_Foo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boo_Boo_Foo)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-national-sports-teams/187814/17 "2003-07-12T03:39:02Z")
Traditionally, the Australian National Jersey for cycling had two very subtle distinctions - which no longer exist sadly due to the lines between professional and amatuer having become permanently blurred. If you were representing Australia as an amatuer, (which I did) you were given a jersey which was all white with a vertical green-gold-green stripe which ran from your lower right back up over your right shoulder down to your lower right front. Many countries the world over still follow this practice - including a colour variation by Germany. But if you were a professional, the Australian jersey was again all white with a much thicker green-gold-green band which runs horizontally around the upper waist and lower chest. In my humble opinion as a traditionalist, the amateur jersey has become in the last 10 years something of a random, constantly moving billboard of all sorts of different colours and patterns. It really sucks. Sometimes, things are just right and they don’t need to change. The Australian Rugby League jersey is a great example. To muck about with that would be sacralige. But for some reason, the idjits who run Olympic level cycling feel that the Amatuer Australian jersey has to change every 2 years now like some form of mobile, flying vomit. As you can tell, it really pisses me off. Just put it back the way it was. It was perfect. It stood out, but it was subtle and understated… and most importantly, when you wore it, you were following a tradition in Australian Cycling going back a hundred years. ---
**Author:** ![woolly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ebca7d/32.png) [@woolly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woolly)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2003, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-national-sports-teams/187814/18 "2003-07-13T06:34:16Z")
Of course, to muddy the picture even further; aA significant export from South Africa (from Natal by co-operatives like NTE and UCL) are tannins used in the production of leather goods. [The Wattle Industry](http://www.forestry.co.za/forestry.nsf/Content/The_Wattle_Industry.html) The products are usually known as various grades of Mimosa e.g. Mimosa ME, GS, FS and WS. These products are extracted from the bark of the Black Wattle \*(Acacia mearnsii) \*, which is a native of Australia. So if you like Australia has SA’s Black Mimosa, whilst SA has Australia’s Black Wattle. 😃 The other point was that Australia’s national sporting colours until 1984 were offically gold and blue but gold and green were the colours almost exclusively worn. (IIRC gold and blue were worn at the Moscow Olympics at the insistence of PM Malcom Fraser) ---
**Author:** ![paperbackwriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@paperbackwriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paperbackwriter)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2003, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-national-sports-teams/187814/19 "2003-07-13T17:17:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Boo Boo Foo \* > \*\*Traditionally, the Australian National Jersey for cycling had two very subtle distinctions - which no longer exist sadly due to the lines between professional and amatuer having become permanently blurred. > > If you were representing Australia as an amatuer, (which I did) … \*\* I also like the old amateur jersey. The American national jerseys are also constantly changing. I never know who to look for in the Worlds. So what was you discipline? I’m guessing one of the track events.