State Flag of Queensland by xuessium
The Queensland state flag was created as a colonial flag - a British Blue Ensign with the badge of the colony added to the blue field. Because some of the Australian state badges were originaly created to represent the Governor (as distinct from the Colony) they generally showed some element of British royal heraldry - the main criteria being that it be different from similar badges used in other parts of the Empire. Queensland uses a blue Maltese Cross (Malta used a red cross). The Crown [superimposed on the cross] on the Queensland badge represented the status of the Governor as representative of Queen Victoria in the Colony.Ralph Kelly
extracted from:
http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/au-ql.html