2 Jul 1956
The Minister for Air approved the adoption of a new Air Force roundel which featured the ‘kangaroo in motion’ in the centre, replacing the red-white-and-blue roundel of the RAF which the Air Force and Royal Australian Navy both used. During 1955 the RAAF followed the lead of other Commonwealth air forces by looking at options for replacing the centre of the roundel with a distinctive national emblem. Designs suggested by Mrs Pamela Brinsley a staff artist at the Department of Air and wife of a serving RAAF officer, included the Southern Cross, a boomerang and a sprig of wattle, but eventually the 'kangaroo in motion' (as depicted on Australia's penny coin), was chosen by the Air Board.