What is the Victorian emblem?

The state emblems of Victoria include the common pink heath (Epacris impressa) as floral emblem, Leadbeater's possum (Gymnobelideus leadbeateri) as animal emblem, the helmeted honeyeater (Lichenostomus melanops cassidix) as bird emblem, the weedy seadragon as marine emblem, and gold as the state's mineral. The state coat of arms displays two kangaroos as supporters and the motto 'Peace and Prosperity'.

The common pink heath was adopted as Victoria's floral emblem on 11 November 1958, making it the first floral emblem to be officially proclaimed by an Australian state. It is a small evergreen shrub with tubular pink flowers found across heath and open forest country in southern Victoria, Tasmania, and New South Wales. The plant flowers profusely from autumn through to spring, providing nectar for honeyeaters and other pollinators.

Leadbeater's possum was proclaimed the state animal in 1971 to celebrate its rediscovery in 1961, after the species had been thought extinct since the 1920s. The small nocturnal marsupial lives only in the mountain ash forests of the Central Highlands of Victoria and is critically endangered. The helmeted honeyeater was added as bird emblem in 1971 and is also critically endangered, with a wild population at Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve numbering only about 250 individuals.

Victoria's mineral emblem of gold reflects the gold rushes of the 1850s, when the Ballarat and Bendigo finds turned the colony into the richest in Australia almost overnight. About one-third of the world's gold supply between 1851 and 1860 came from Victorian fields. The state coat of arms was granted in 1973, replacing the earlier 1910 design, and now appears on government stationery, the Victorian Parliament, and the badges of the Victoria Police.