THE KING'S COLOURS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 248, 8 July 1918, Page 6

THE KING'S COLOURS

-« t , CLAIM OF AX AUSTRALIAN \ B.IUCJADK. j Every soldier of the 6th Australian Infantry .Jlrifado (who returns (o Aus- ' tralia (says tho Melbourne ie'pre- t pared to declare emphatically that Hie ' brifjade hns been awarded the h'inc'd t colours, and lo .show that he is iniite «euuiuo in hie belief ho will point oh r - I hat he is wearing the colour patches f ol his battalion on the back of his f tunic, just Iwncatli the collar, (instead of f in the usual place on the 'sleeve. Further, it wilj bn seen that ho also wears r above the colour patch of his battalion f n triangular patch of purple, which fi overy soldier will tell you is the King's e toloiir. Almost every rotnrncd soldier who is bnr-k in Australia has henrd at' I oiip lime or anothnr that the lilh I3ri- f (,'adp ;va.* awarded tho Kind's colours for n conspicuous Knltnntry :it Biillecoiirt, and i the fact that the soldiers of this bri- 1 Kadi- wore their colours on the back of tlieir tunics wae nnderstood to signify ( that they hud foujjht back to bnck f agaiitst tho 100, and refused to yield s an inch of ground. Vrom a statement I which was made by the Fodoral Minis- • ter of Defence, it would appear, howover, that there i? absolutely no ground ' whatever for tho claim that the 6tli Bri- f gade is entitled to the King's colours, I and tlio Minister further announced that c the {(sneval officer commanding the A.I.F. 8 reports that no authority has been given '■» to membpr.s of the fith Jiripado to wear n their colour patches in any place other than on tlio sloevos of their tunics, and that tho tfcnriiiß of thoec patches on t lix' back of their tunics is unauthorised 1 find incorrect. Tho Minister eaid that | tin- claim or tho GUi Brigade (n the . King'ti {•olniirs was refuted al the li" , " < the stak'inont was fir.<t made. Tho King's j colours consisted of n silk Union Jack. Every regiment in tlio British Army, with the exception of tlio T'.ille Brigade, had two colours—the King's and the re- t h'inionlal colours, a survival of the an- f cicnt custom of taking n siaiulw! into j, action and usins? it us a rallying noinf for tlie rcgininit. Thf ,if |,lin colours ttmld in w ,i>n-p b(. L-nll-i'd i'.u nvard.