Formation sign : 1 Armoured Brigade (New South Wales)

Machine woven cotton formation sign of 1 Armoured Brigade. The badge, for wear on the right arm, is a yellow square on which is embroidered a green palm tree over a brown boomerang and a red Crocodile, which faces to the right.

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. The 1st Armoured Brigade was a New South Wales based Citizen Military Forces (CMF) formation, originally comprising the 1st Royal New South Wales Lancers, 6th New South Wales Mounted Rifles and 12/16 Hunter River Lancers. Their formation sign was based upon that used by 4 Armoured Brigade during the Second World War.