South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Flag

South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands territory was created on October 3, 1985. The territory was allowed to have its flag after it was created. The flag used in the territory consists of a blue flag with the Union Jack on the Canton of the flag and the coat of arms of the territory on the fly side. On February 14, 1992, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands were allowed to use their coat of arms. In 1993, the territory started using the blue flag with the coat of arms as the flag.

The blue ensign with the Union Jack is used by the overseas territories associated with the United Kingdom. The coat of arms consists of a shield. The shield has a green V shape in the middle with a yellow lion holding a lantern. The sides of the shield are a checked design of blue and white. On the right side of the shield, there is a Macaroni penguin on the ice holding the shield while on the left is a fur seal also holding the shield. On the top of the shield is a reindeer. At the bottom of the shield is a yellow banner with the motto “Leo Terram Propriam Protegat” which translates to let the lion protect its land.

Nothing is said about who designed the flag or the coat of arms. The coat of arms was adopted to celebrate freedom from Argentine occupancy. The Falkland Islands governor is also the civil commissioner of the territory. From 1992 to 1999 the civil commissioner used a flag which consisted of the Union Jack with the Shield, while the coat of arms is contained in a white disc is in its middle.

Before 1985, the territory was a Falkland Islands Dependency, and it used the same flag as the Falkland Islands. The first version of the present flag had a smaller coat of arms on a white disc, and this was changed to the current flag in June 2006. There is a different flag used by the civil commissioner of the territory, and it is only used when the civil commissioner is in the territory. The flag consists of the Union Jack with the coat of arms of the territory in a white disc with a yellow border having green flowers in the middle.