COLOURS in the CRYPT of the SHRINE in MELBOURNE

Thirty three colours and one guidon are suspended on horizontal shafts from the walls of the Crypt.  Of these twenty eight colours and the one guidon represent units of the first Australian Imperial Force (AIF) which served in the Great War(1914-18)

Colours, Guidons and Banners are Laid Up in all sorts of places. Churches, cathedrals and other public buildings. This is a start to listing where they are. If you can help with information please email me 

• Fourteen infantry battalions are represented by two colours each - a 

  • Regimental colour which is a silken green flag and which carries the battle honours of the Great War (First World War) and a 

  • King’s colour which was presented by the Sovereign to each infantry battalion for meritorious service, which consists of a silken Union flag and which carries the battle honours of the corresponding Second World War units.

Two colours, Royal (Queen’s) and Regimental represent the

•  22nd Battalion, Royal Victoria Regiment which has inherited the traditions and honours of all Victorian infantry units.

The colours of the 22nd Battalion R.V. R., both Queen’s and Regimental carry the Queen’s crown. The Royal or Queen’s colour is also distinctive in that it is a silken national flag as against the Union flag used in previous Sovereigns’ colours.

• Melbourne University Rifles is also represented by two colours, King’s and Regimental.

• Three King’s colours in the Crypt, 

  • 8th battalion

  • 58th Battalion

  • 59th Battalion, have no honours emblazoned on them but all of these units have colours in other parts of the state which carry the respective honours.

• 60th Battalion has two regimental colours, one of which dates back to prior to the Great War when it was the Brunswick-Carlton Regiment.

The one guidon in the Crypt represents the 

• 4th Light Horse Regiment. 

This differs from colours in that it is smaller, being carried on a lance rather than a pike and the free border is swallow-tailed in shape. It is unique in having two colour patches, one worn by troopers in the desert campaigns and the other by troopers in France.

RECENT ADDITIONS
Four colours representing the 

• 6th Infantry Battalion, City of Melbourne Regiment, have been added to the Crypt, making a total of thirty seven colours and one guidon. Two of these are King’s colours and two are Regimental colours.

• Some are photographed