Australia finally officially adopted green and gold as its sporting colours with the assent of the Govenor-General Sir Ninian Stephen in 1984. The exact colours were specified as being Pantone Matching System numbers 116C and 348C... but why? The common belief is that the colours were chosen because they are the dominant colours of Australia's floral emblem, the Golden Wattle, but I suspect that the reason is more pragmatic.
I've found references as far back as 1899 when the Australian cricket captain Joe Darling walked into a suit shop in London and asked for 15 green blazers piped in gold trim for the Australian touring side to wear. The baggy green it would seem actually predates Australia as a nation. It was officially adopted in 1908.
The Australiasian Olympic Team comprising of both Australians and New Zealanders wore gold and green at the 1908 London and 1912 Stockholm games.
The Wallabies who previously had played in blue or white, either chose gold after beating the All-Blacks 3-0 in a test series in 1928/9 or in 1931 with the commencement of the Bledisloe Cup.
Almost in defiance which is why I still don't know who took it up first, the Kangaroos played in green and gold hoops in 1928 against England. The fact that one would want to distance themselves from the other is logical but I don't know which came first.
Certainly by the time that the Melbourne Olympics of 1956 came around, the green and gold was more or less permanent and by the time of Sir Jack Brabham winning the Formula One World Driver's Championship in a car he designed and built himself it was well and truly established - his car proudly bore British Racing Green with a gold stripe down the centre.
The 2008 Australian Olympic Team however walked into the stadium in a flashy blue and white affair. Whilst the opening ceremony doesn't need the national sporting colours, the designers still succeeded in producing a really crap looking uniform.
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