Where did Queensland and NSW get their Colours

There’s something distinctly human about how seriously we take colours. For three nights every year, an entire country divides itself into maroon and sky blue. Families stop speaking, pubs become battlegrounds and suddenly everyone has an opinion on forward passes. But what most people don’t realise is that the famous colours of State of Origin are far older than the rivalry itself.

The iconic maroon of Queensland and the sky blue of New South Wales weren’t invented for rugby league. In fact, both colours had already been tied to interstate sport for over 100 years before the first Origin game was played in 1980.

Queensland’s connection to maroon dates back to the colony’s separation from NSW in 1859. As one of Australia’s newer colonies, Queensland began building its own distinct identity and, naturally, sport became one of the biggest ways to do that. It is widely suggested that the maroon colour was adopted as a tribute to Queen Victoria, whom the state was named after, with the deep red-purple shade inspired by the royal robes she famously wore.

At the same time, representative sporting teams and Brisbane’s powerful GPS school system began heavily using maroon across rugby and cricket. Like most sporting traditions, the more it was worn, the more embedded it became. Eventually maroon stopped being just a colour and became synonymous with Queensland itself. Today you rarely even hear people say they support Queensland. They simply “bleed maroon.”

Meanwhile, NSW’s sky blue has its own interesting roots. During the late 1800s, organised interstate sport between the colonies was expanding rapidly, particularly in rugby and cricket. NSW teams adopted sky blue partly to distinguish themselves from rival colonies, but there was also a strong British influence behind the decision.

It is believed the colour was borrowed from the sporting colours of University of Cambridge, whose famous light blue had become strongly associated with elite sport throughout the British Empire. At the time, Victoria often used a darker navy inspired by Oxford, while NSW adopted Cambridge’s lighter shade. Given how heavily early Australian sport drew from British schools and universities, the connection makes plenty of sense.

What’s interesting is that neither colour originally represented toughness, pride or rivalry. They were largely practical choices made during Australia’s colonial sporting era. But over generations those colours evolved into something far bigger.

Sky blue became tied to NSW’s coastal identity, surf culture and eastern seaboard image. Maroon became shorthand for Queensland’s underdog mentality, toughness and that famous “Queenslander” spirit Origin broadcasts remind us about every twelve seconds.

And that’s probably why Origin still feels different to every other sporting event in the country. It isn’t just two teams playing football. It’s over a century of history, identity and tribalism stitched into two jerseys Australians instantly recognise.