Adopted in 1953 to replace a similar design used from the time when the state was still a British colony, it has been the flag of Western Australia since 3 November of that year.

The first confirmed European sighting of the western coast of Australia was made by the Dutch East India Company in the early 1600s.

[1] During an expedition in January 1697 to what is now Cottesloe,[2] Willem de Vlamingh observed black swans in habitation at the estuary of the river there.

[3] The bird was also featured on the Swan River Guardian, the settlement's first newspaper, as well as the inaugural issue of the Western Australian Government Gazette.

On 3 January of the following year, Frederick Weld, the Governor of Western Australia, put forward a proposed design of the badge that depicted a black swan on a yellow backdrop.

[A][8] The official colour scheme, according to the website of the Government of Western Australia, follows the Pantone Matching System as indicated below.

[13][14] It is native to the state,[15][16] and lent its name to the Swan River Colony (the precursor to modern-day Western Australia).

[7] The black swan has come to be employed as a representation of "an Australian nationalistic identity against the English imperialist master", according to the author Rodney James Giblett.

This reflects the position of its state badge on the shield of the Commonwealth Coat of Arms,[18] where it appears as the fifth quarter on the second row.