Queen's Colour : Richmond Company, Victorian Volunteer Rifle Corps

Queen's Colour of dark bottle green, plain weave silk. In the upper left canton is a double-sided Union Jack made from separate strips of white, blue and red silk. In the lower half of the Colour are the initials 'R.V.R.C' embroidered on the front only, in gold bullion thread and wire. The stitching used to attach the initials can be seen on the reverse. There are two flat felled seams running horizontally across the green field of the flag; one to the right of the Union Jjack and the other just above the embroidered initials. The original green, lower section of the hoist is missing but has since undergone extensive conservation and restoration to replace the losses. The blue section of the hoist is made from two strips of blue silk joined with hand stitched seams. There are nail holes at the junction between the hoist and the Union Jack. Just to the right of the embroidered 'C' are a series of vertical stitches. The original upper and lower fly sections are missing; the original width of the Colour may have measured approximately 184cm.

This Queen's Colour is one of a pair presented to Captain Septimus Martin of the Richmond Volunteer Rifles on 2 February 1861, at the Richmond cricket ground by the ladies of Richmond. This committee of women were wives, relatives and influential people connected with the Corps. The Colours are believed to have been made by a Mrs Campion from Sandridge, Melbourne, a noted seamstress, also credited with making at least one other set of colours for the Castlemaine company and possibly also the Kyneton colours. The Colours were designed by George Bourchier Richardson and the Queen's Colour originally included the Southern Cross motif. This part of the design was rejected by George Pitt, Colonel of Volunteers because he felt it carried associations with revolution and the uprising at Eureka in 1854. Only four sets of colours were issued to the volunteer forces in Victoria after they were raised in 1859. The Colours may have been used at the yearly volunteer encampments but their use was limited and they remained at the Company's drill hall following the demise of the Corps in 1884. Later army units raised in Richmond used the Colours in parades and they made an appearance at the unveiling of the 22 Battalion roll of honour for the First World War in July 1923. The Colours were eventually laid up at St Phillip's Church, Collingwood in 1928 and were moved to the Richmond Town Hall in 1967. The Richmond Colours are the oldest surviving Australian Colours.