If you look at the bird on the flag you can see it is a REAR VIEW of a White-backed Magpie, Gymnorhina hypoleuca, and it is sitting on a perch and the perch goes under it’s tail and it is looking over it’s left shoulder, it is probably on the verge of taking off. Well if you look at the bird actually depicted on the flag, it is not a white backed magpie because it isn’t uniformly black underneath. It isn’t a great representation of a magpie-lark either (no white eyebrow, and only white flecks on the wings rather than fully white underwings,) but it’s closer than to a magpie. Or to a Pied butcherbird, which has the black hood but even more white underwing. Basically whoever designed the flag was no John Gould.
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Not really wanting to revisit the obvious here …… but today I went to the National Museum and read items related to the metal breast plates that were given to aboriginal people in early days. It made mention that they often showed heraldic depictions of animals and that the tradition of many such styles was to show a back view with the animal looking over its shoulder. This gives a context to the Magpie image in the emblem. Philip —–Original Message—– Sent: Saturday, 15 August 2015 5:14 PM Some people like to try too hard. Of course it is a white-backed magpie (rear view), although the name used at the time was different but the name clearly equates to Magpie (from other evidence). And the old name of Piping Shrike is arguably no more correct or wrong a choice than Magpie. Except that Magpie is an easy name, which works well for a well known bird. Yes it appears to show a black patch across the rump and it is stylised. Almost every time an animal is shown as an emblem (think of lion, eagle, whatever), it uses a stylised depiction. This just fits the tradition…….. I suggest sending a picture and suggesting the emblem is a Magpie-lark is an irrelevance. Philip (incorporating some corrections to earlier messages) —–Original Message—– Ross Macfarlane (TPG) Sent: Saturday, 15 August 2015 2:33 PM Unconvinced; if your theory is right the white on the wing sure isn’t https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fd/Flag_of_South_Aust ralia.svg/2000px-Flag_of_South_Australia.svg.png http://ibc.lynxeds.com/files/pictures/Australian_magpie.JPG https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4040/4336142504_92113e1edd_b.jpg —–Original Message—– Doug Holly Sent: Saturday, 15 August 2015 1:45 PM If you look at the bird on the flag you can see it’s a REAR VIEW of a White-backed Magpie, Gymnorhina hypoleuca, and it’s sitting on a perch and the perch goes under its tail and it’s looking over its left shoulder, it’s probably on the verge of taking off.
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I think it’s just a misrepresentation of (probably) a magpie ( because they are so common here in SA) done by some incompetent government official back at the 1900 era. Possibly a poor attempt at a stylised emblem. No-one really knows the answer to this old chestnut. Tony. —–Original Message—– Doug Holly Sent: Saturday, 15 August 2015 1:15 PM If you look at the bird on the flag you can see it is a REAR VIEW of a White-backed Magpie, Gymnorhina hypoleuca, and it is sitting on a perch and the perch goes under it’s tail and it is looking over it’s left shoulder, it is probably on the verge of taking off. Well if you look at the bird actually depicted on the flag, it is not a white backed magpie because it isn’t uniformly black underneath. It isn’t a great representation of a magpie-lark either (no white eyebrow, and only white flecks on the wings rather than fully white underwings,) but it’s closer than to a magpie. Or to a Pied butcherbird, which has the black hood but even more white underwing. Basically whoever designed the flag was no John Gould.
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Unconvinced; if your theory is right the white on the wing sure isn’t https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fd/Flag_of_South_Aust ralia.svg/2000px-Flag_of_South_Australia.svg.png http://ibc.lynxeds.com/files/pictures/Australian_magpie.JPG https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4040/4336142504_92113e1edd_b.jpg —–Original Message—– Doug Holly Sent: Saturday, 15 August 2015 1:45 PM If you look at the bird on the flag you can see it is a REAR VIEW of a White-backed Magpie, Gymnorhina hypoleuca, and it is sitting on a perch and the perch goes under it’s tail and it is looking over it’s left shoulder, it is probably on the verge of taking off. Well if you look at the bird actually depicted on the flag, it is not a white backed magpie because it isn’t uniformly black underneath. It isn’t a great representation of a magpie-lark either (no white eyebrow, and only white flecks on the wings rather than fully white underwings,) but it’s closer than to a magpie. Or to a Pied butcherbird, which has the black hood but even more white underwing. Basically whoever designed the flag was no John Gould.
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