| Orange Free State coat of arms | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Adopted | 28 February 1856 w.e.f. 23 February 1857 |
The coat of arms of the Orange Free State was the official heraldic symbol of the Orange Free State as a republic from 1857 to 1902, and later, from 1937 to 1994, as a province of South Africa. It is now obsolete.
The Orange Free State was established as a republic in 1854. It needed official symbols, and its first state president, Josias Hoffman decided to have them professionally designed in the Netherlands. At his request, King Willem III of the Netherlands had a flag and coat of arms designed by the Hoge Raad van Adel during 1855, and sent them out to South Africa. [1] [2] [3] As the Orange Free State was named after the Orange River which, in turn, had been named after the Dutch royal family, the arms depicted a wavy orange fess (stripe) representing the river, and three bugle horns, which are the badge of the House of Orange.
By the time the designs reached Bloemfontein, in January 1856, Hoffman had resigned and been succeeded by Jacobus Boshof. Apparently unaware that state symbols were being designed in the Netherlands, Boshof had had a Great Seal designed and manufactured, and approved by the Volksraad (legislature). The seal depicted a tree of liberty, sheep, a lion, and an ox-wagon. When Boshof placed the flag and coat of arms designs before the Volksraad on 28 February 1856, the legislators decided that
The design of the flag sent by the King of the Netherlands shall be adopted, and to the coat of arms sent by the above shall be added the already existing arms in the Great Seal of the State, with omission of the orange stripe. [4]
The coat of arms, as actually adopted, then displayed the design of the Great Seal between the three bugle horns. This hybrid design was officially introduced on the republic's third anniversary, 23 February 1857, and was used until the republic ceased to exist on 31 May 1902.
As the Orange River Colony (1902–10), the territory had a different coat of arms, granted by King Edward VII of the United Kingdom.
When the colony became a province of the Union of South Africa in 1910, the provincial administration took over the Orange River Colony arms, which it used until 1925. In 1937, after a twelve-year period without official arms, the provincial administration adopted the old republican arms, [2] [3] and they were used as the provincial arms until the Orange Free State was reconstituted as the Free State Province in 1994.
The arms were recorded at the College of Arms in July 1955, and registered at the Bureau of Heraldry in October 1967. The official blazon is: [5]
On a shield Argent, between three bugle horns Azure, garnished and stringed Gules, a representation of the seal of the Orange Free State Republic as adopted in 1856 viz., on a white roundel, in chief a tree on an island, between dexter, three sheep and sinister a natural lion supporting the tree with his dexter paw, in base a voortrekker wagon on an island, all proper; on a ribbon draped fesswise, the motto GEDULD EN MOED, above the tree the word VRYHEID and below the wagon the word IMMIGRATIE; behind the shield, on two staves in saltire with ball and spear points Or, two flags of the same Republic draped on both sides, each with seven stripes visible, alternately white and orange and a canton of three stripes, red, white and blue.
The coat of arms of South Africa is the main heraldic insignia of South Africa. The present coat of arms was introduced on Freedom Day, 27 April 2000, and was designed by Iaan Bekker. It replaced the earlier national arms, which had been in use since 1910. The motto is written in the extinct |Xam, member of the Khoisan languages, and translates literally to "diverse people unite". The previous motto, in Latin, was Ex Unitate Vires, translated as "From unity, strength".
The flag of South Africa was designed in March 1994 and adopted on 27 April 1994, during South Africa's 1994 general election, to replace the previous flag used from 1928-1994.
The flag of Cape Colony was the official flag of the Cape Colony from 1876 to 1910. It formed part of a system of colonial flags that was used throughout the British Empire.
The coat of arms of the Cape Colony was the official heraldic symbol of the Cape Colony as a British colony from 1875 to 1910, and as a province of South Africa from 1910 to 1994.
Jacobus Nicolaas Boshof was a South African (Boer) statesman, a late-arriving member of the Voortrekker movement, and the second state president of the Orange Free State, in office from 1855 to 1859.
The coat of arms of the Western Cape is the official heraldic symbol of the Western Cape province of the Republic of South Africa. It has been in use since 1998.
The flag of the Natalia Republic was the official flag of this short-lived South African state, which existed from 1839 to 1843.
The flag of the Orange Free State was officially used from 1857 to 1902. It was superseded by the flag of the Orange River Colony.
South African heraldry dates back to the 1650s, inheriting European heraldic traditions. Arms are borne by individuals, official bodies, local authorities, military units, and by a wide variety of organisations. South Africa has had its own heraldic authority since 1963, to provide armigers with legal protection, and to promote high standards of armorial practice.
The Flag of Transvaal was the official flag of the Transvaal colony in South Africa from circa 1903 to 1910. It formed part of a system of colonial flags that was used throughout the British Empire. It was superseded by the flag of the Union of South Africa.
Since unification in 1910, South Africa has used a range of national symbols to identify the country: coats of arms, official seals, flags, national anthems, and floral, bird, animal, and other emblems.
The coat of arms of Natal was the official heraldic symbol of Natal as a British colony from 1907 to 1910, and as a province of South Africa from 1910 to 1994. It is now obsolete.
The coat of arms of the Transvaal was the official heraldic symbol of the South African Republic from 1866 to 1877 and again from 1881 to 1902, and later the symbol of the Transvaal Province from 1954 to 1994 in a simplified form. It is now obsolete.
The coat of arms of the Orange River Colony was the official heraldic symbol of the Orange River Colony as a British colony from 1904 to 1910, and then of the Orange Free State province of South Africa from 1910 to 1925. It is now obsolete.
The flag of Natal was the official flag of the South African colony of Natal from 1870 to 1910. It formed part of a system of colonial flags that were used throughout the British Empire.
The flag of the Orange River Colony was the official flag of the Orange River Colony in South Africa from 1904 to 1910. It formed part of a system of colonial flags that was used throughout the British Empire. It was superseded by the Flag of the Union of South Africa.
The South African Republic, which existed from 1852 to 1877, 1881 to 1902, and 1914 to 1915, used two flags: (1) the so-called 'Vierkleur' from 1857 to 1874, and again from 1875 to 1877 and 1881 to 1902, and (2) the so-called 'Burgers Flag' from 1874 to 1875. They were superseded by the flag of Transvaal. The Vierkleur was also used by the South African Republic declared in 1914 during the Maritz Rebellion, which lasted into February 1915.
Cornelis Pama was a Dutch bookseller, publisher, heraldist and genealogist, who spent the second half of his life in South Africa.
The first coat of arms of South Africa was granted to the Union of South Africa by King George V and later amended by the British College of Arms. It contained representation of the four provinces within the Union. The coat of arms was later retained by the Republic of South Africa after independence and for a period until after the end of apartheid, until being retired in 2000. The 1910 coat of arms was replaced in 2000 by the current coat of arms of South Africa.