Great Seal of Australia

[7] The second design was authorised by Elizabeth II on 17 February 1954 while presiding over the Federal Executive Council in Canberra during her first visit as reigning monarch.

[13] The description for the seal in its royal warrant is as follows:[14] Convicts landed at Botany Bay; their fetters taken off and received by Industry, sitting on a bale of goods with her attributes, the distaff, bee-hive, pick axe, and spade, pointing to an oxen ploughing, the rising habitations, and a church on a hill at a distance, with a fort for their defence.

['Seal New South Wales']The fourth seal granted in 1832 by King William IV modified this design, inserting the royal arms above the convict symbolism.

[13] The fifth seal granted on the ascension of Queen Victoria kept this design, but removed without explanation the motto Sic fortis etruria crevit (a quote from Virgil's Georgics alluding to the rise of Etruria and the Etruscans and the future greatness the colony could aspire to as a result of expansion of agriculture and industry).

[15][16] The sixth seal was granted in 1870 removed all references to the convict past of New South Wales and instead emphasised the agricultural prosperity of the colony.

The convict imagery was replaced by a golden fleece between two Prince of Wales' feathers beneath the royal arms above nine stars.

The shedding of convict emblems reflected the increasingly distinct personality the colony had compared with the imperial mother country.

Inscribed around the outside is "Elizabeth II Dei Gratia Britanniarium Terrae Australis Regnorumque Suorum Ceterorum Regina, Consortionis Populorum Princeps, Fideo Defensor".

The most current inscription reads "elizabeth the second by the grace of god queen of australia and her other realms and territories in the commonwealth".

The great seal of Western Australia originally depicted the Royal Coat of Arms of the UK above a black swan.

The public seal of South Australia in use around 1900 depicted the royal arms above the state badge: a piping shrike on a gold circle.