The Broad Arrow is the oldest and most common mark of British government ownership. Arrows may be alone, above or between letters. There are many variations of broad arrow.

War Department mark, adopted around 1856, may or may not have an arrow above or between the letters.  Although officially discontinued after 1895 (LoC §7815) the mark remained in use for some time.  Twenty years later, during WWI, the WD mark routinely appeared in political cartoons. No explanation was needed.

New South Wales First colony on the new continent, the broad arrow was not as widely used here as elsewhere.  Other letters and marks may appear above or below the NSW mark.

Victoria  Second largest colony in Australia, the broad arrow was not as widely used here as elsewhere.  Other letters and marks may appear above or below the VIC mark.

Queensland separated from New South Wales in 1859 and quickly established it's own Navy, Police and Defense Force. The Queensland mark has several variations.

Tasmania is the furthest south and was the second Australian colony to be granted self-government.  The Broad Arrow mark was not in widespread use.

South Australia  Already a self-governing colony in 1834, South Australia was one of the first colonies to import British arms for it's Defense Forces.  The SA mark is very similar to marks of South Africa.

West Australia  Less prosperous than the eastern colonies, West Australia also had fewer variations of it's government mark.

Unlike the Australians, there are very few Broad Arrow marks specifically identified with Canadian Provincial governments. The C-Arrow variants were used as a national mark.

Militia & Defense.  Commonly found on pre-WWI (1914) arms.

North-West Mounted Police; later Royal NWMP. The Northwest Territories (NWT: French, les Territoires du Nord-Ouest) is not a province but a large territory (currently 1.2M kilometers, much reduced from it's pre-1900 size) north of the 60th parallel in Canada.  This is one of several marks specifically associated with the force sent to police that huge territory. The name of the Force changed to Royal North West Mounted Police in 1904.  The RNWMP amalgamated with the Dominion Police and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police came into being in early 1920.

CANADA - National Government
At the outbreak of WWI Canadian Regular Forces totaled 3,312 and 341 men in the Officer Training Corps. While it was true that Canada had 178 Militia regiments, nearly all of these were under strength and poorly equipped, totaling about 65,000 men. Nonetheless, before the Great War ended more than 620,000 Canadians had volunteered for service, of which 418,000 served overseas. More than 200,000 were casualties, including 66,651 killed in action or died of wounds. The Blue Jack Ensign was flown by Canada's Navy from 1910 until the adoption of the Maple Leaf flag in 1965.

Many of the Indian Government marks are variations of the letter I and a Broad Arrow.

Indian Government

Central Forces, Government of India.  Found on a Mk III oiler.

INDIA
India gained independence from Great Britain on 15th August 1947 following endorsement of a plan by the Muslim League and the All-India Congress to partition the sub-continent into two countries, India and Pakistan. The Tiranga was raised over the Red Fort as the the national flag of India on Independence Day, 1947.

The modern Indian Army flag, with crossed swords beneath the Ashoka, is clearly modeled on the 1938 British Army flag, with crossed swords behind the rampant lion atop the Tudor Crown of England.

The United Kingdom of Great Britain & Ireland
Under English domination since the Middle Ages, Ireland became part of the United Kingdom (of England, Scotland, Wales & Ireland) in 1801. 

Irish nationalism underwent a resurgence in the 19th century, particularly in the predominantly Catholic south. In the 1880's the movement for autonomy ("Home Rule") won support from the British Liberal government.  The concept aroused great controversy in London, where Home Rule Bills were defeated in 1886 and 1893, and was strongly opposed by the predominantly Protestant 'Unionist' majority in Ulster. A third Home Rule Bill passed the House of Commons in May 1912, promising Home Rule in two years, pushing Ireland close to civil war.  In the south an army of 180,000 'National Volunteers' was raised to carry out Home Rule; in the north the Ulster Volunteer Force raised 90,000 men under arms to oppose them. The 'Irish' dispute became a national crisis when it appeared that British Army troops in Ireland would refuse to fire on Ulster Unionists if called upon to enforce Home Rule. The Irish crisis and the 'Curragh Mutiny' were brought to a sudden end by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand on 28th June, 1914.  The outbreak of World War I in August 1914 suspended plans to introduce Home Rule and quieted Protestant agitation for the duration of WWI.

The Irish Free State
Sinn Fein was formed in 1905 with the aim of nothing less than full independence from Britain. Also around this time the militant Irish Republican Brotherhood was revived. The radicalization of politics and ultimately the escalation of political violence in the years following the failed 1916 Easter Uprising created an increasingly difficult situation for the RIC. The old Home Rule politicians were discredited and heavily defeated in a Sinn Fein landslide in the General Election of 1918. The newly elected Sinn Fein members refused to take their seats in Westminster and instead, on 21st January 1919, declared themselves to be the first Dail Eireann ('Parliament of Ireland'). On the same day members of the Irish Volunteers (soon to be renamed the Irish Republican Army) killed two RIC Constables and escaped with their weapons. Michael Collins, the IRA leader, created guerilla teams called 'flying columns' to carry out a new type of hit and run warfare against the Crown forces. Throughout 1919 and 1920, the campaign, the brunt of which was borne by the RIC, continued with ruthless efficiency. A nationwide boycott of police was begun, often enforced by intimidation, and an alternative system of police and courts sprang up, orchestrated by the IRA and Sinn Fein. In response to this situation and the growing number of police resignations, the British government raised a force of men on mainland Britain, mainly unemployed ex-soldiers, to act as police reinforcements. As there was no immediately available supply of police uniforms, they wore a mixture of police and army uniform with police caps and belts - hence their nickname, the 'Black-and-Tans' (also the name of a well-known pack of hounds in County Limerick). The government raised another force, the Auxiliary Division of the Constabulary (commonly known as 'Auxiliaries'), consisting for the most part of young ex-army officers. It was subsequently the Black-and-Tans and the Auxiliaries who formed the spearhead of the government's attempts to break the IRA. During the latter months of 1920 and the first half of 1921 the conflict was pursued with a terrible ferocity by both sides. Attacks by the IRA on the RIC in Ulster led to the formation of the Ulster Special Constabulary in November 1920, a volunteer body of auxiliary police to combat the IRA incursions. In December 1920 the Government of Ireland Act was passed at Westminister, allowing for partition and the establishment of two separate parliaments - one in Belfast for the six counties making up Northern Ireland and another in Dublin. In July 1921, after more than two years of bloodshed, a truce, arranged with some difficulty, came into effect. One of every twenty men serving in the RIC had been killed and one in twelve wounded in the preceding two years of civil strife. Talks between the Republican leadership and the British government led to the Anglo-Irish Treaty in 1921, with the Irish delegation eventually agreeing to self-governing dominion status for the twenty-six counties in the Irish Free State. The Treaty, however, was unacceptable to Republican hardliners who refused to settle for anything less than a united, independent 'Republic'. The Treaty was ratified by the Dail on 7 January 1922, only to be followed by a civil war in the South between pro and anti-treaty factions that was even bloodier than the earlier conflict had been. Collins himself was killed by anti-Treaty 'Irregulars' in August 1922.

The Irish tri-color flag had been around in various forms since the 1800's; the flag currently in use was adopted in 1937.

In January 1922 an agreement was reached between the British and new Irish Free State Government to disband the RIC. It was replaced by a new force, the Garda Siochana. On April 4th 1922, exactly a century after the original formation of the Constabulary in 1822, the RIC staged its final parade in Phoenix Park before disbanding.

Newfoundland
Newfoundland, Britain's oldest colony (1583), was ruled by an appointed governor with an elected representative assembly.   Became a self-governing Dominion in 1917; voted to join Canada as a province in 1949. We have not seen any variations of the Broad arrow mark specific to Newfoundland.

Although the population was only 250,000 and the colony had no military forces, Newfoundland declared war along with Great Britain in 1914. 2,000 Newfoundlanders served with the Royal Navy. Some 6,500 men served in the newly created Newfoundland Regiment at Gallipoli and on the Western Front, suffering 2,000 dead and 2,300 wounded - a staggering 67% casualty rate. Redesignated the Royal Newfoundland Regiment in 1918 in recognition, the only regiment awarded that honor while WWI was still in progress.  An additional 500 Newfoundlanders served in Scotland as a forestry battalion.

Many of the Indian Government marks are variations of the letter I and a Broad Arrow.

Indian Government

Central Forces, Government of India.  Found on a Mk III oiler.

South Africa - Colonial Governments & Boer Republics
In 1888 the land known as South Africa was occupied by two British colonies (Capetown and Natal) and two Boer republics (Orange Free State and the Transvaal/South African Republic). The Boers Republics, their independence granted, revoked, then restored, were deeply suspicious of the British.  The British remained uneasy about anything that might compromise their control over the all-important sea-route to India.  In addition, certain elements at all levels of British government and society were itching for a chance to restore British honor after the disastrous defeats of the 1881 Transvaal War.

Cape of Good Hope Colony (Capetown Colony)
The Cape Colony was founded by the Dutch in 1652 and acquired by Britain in 1802 after the defeat of Napoleon. A British colony was set up in 1806. Known as the Cape Province after 1910.

The CG (with and without Broad Arrow) is the mark of the Capetown Government.

Natal Colony
In 1824 the British established a trading post at Port Natal (now Durban). Boers (descendants of Dutch and French Huguenot settlers) controlled Natal from 1837 to 1843, but many of them left when Natal came under British control in 1843.  In 1879 the British defeated the Zulu in Natal. Natal gained limited self-government in 1893, and in 1897 Zululand was incorporated into the colony.

Orange Free State (Oranje Vrijstaat - Suid Afrika)
Annexed by Britain in 1848 and subsequently recognized by Britain as independent Boer Republic in 1854. The flag of the Orange Free State - South Africa was designed by in 1856 by King William III of the Netherlands, on request of the Orange Free State Volksraad (parliament). It is said to represent the bonds between the OFS and the Netherlands, and it's royal house (of Orange). The country was named after the Orange River (itself named after the Dutch royal house). This flag flew 1854 - 1904. (See Orange River Colony, below, for additional info.)

Transvaal Republic (Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek)
Boer Republic in the Transvaal, formed between 1857 and 1864. Known originally as the Boer Republic of Land Goshen (Republiek van Land Goshen) 1881-1884, it was known as the South African Republic (Zuid-Afrikaanse Republiek or ZAR) 1884 - 1902. The flag is known as the Vierkluur (four color) flag. (see Crown Colony of Transvaal, below, for additional info.)

Orange River Colony
Created in 1900 by the annexation of the Orange Free State during the Boer War (Second Anglo-Boer War, 1989-1902). By 1904 sentiment was growing for some form of self-government, and the Oranje Unie party was formed to promote the idea. Achieved self-government in 1907.

Crown Colony of Transvaal
In 1852 Britain signed a treaty with the 5,000 or so families of Dutch settlers known as Boers, recognizing their independence in the region to the north of the Vaal River, or the Transvaal. In 1856 the Boers adopted the name South African Republic. In 1877 Britain annexed the Transvaal. Three years later the Boers revolted in what was known then as the the Transvaal War, (later known as the First South African (Anglo-Boer) War (1881). The 1881 Pretoria Convention restored Boer self-rule in the Transvaal, albeit under British oversight. Gold was discovered in Witwatersrand in 1885 , bringing in a rush of non-Boer European settlers (called uitlanders, outlanders, by the Boers). This lead to a destabilization of the republic, and even to talk about getting protection from Germany.  Fearing British annexation (which was being loudly urged by many London newspapers), and overconfident after their victory against British forces eighteen years earlier, the Boers launched a preemptive strike against the nearby British colonies in 1899, a strike which became the Second South African (Anglo-Boer) War (1899-1902).  After the Boer surrender in 1902 the former Boer republic became the Crown Colony of Transvaal.

South Africa - National Government
The Union of South Africa was created on May 31, 1910 as a new dominion of the British Empire when the Cape Colony and Natal Colony were combined with the former Boer Republics of the Orange Free State (Orange Colony) and the South African Republic (Crown Colony of Transvaal).  The various parts were then known, respectively, as the Cape Province, Natal, Transvaal, and the Orange Free State. Unlike Canada and Australia, the new Union was a unitary state, rather than a federation, with each colony's parliament abolished and replaced with provincial councils.

Owing to disagreements over where the Union's capital city should be, a compromise was reached in which the seat of government would be Pretoria in the Transvaal, the seat of parliament would be Cape Town in the Cape Province, the judiciary would be in Bloemfontein, in the Orange Free State and Pietermaritzburg, the capital of Natal, was given compensation. This arrangement continues to this day, with the government ministers, civil servants and diplomats moving from Pretoria to Cape Town every year, when Parliament is in session. The Red Ensign was adopted in 1910, although the Union Jack remained the official flag. The South African troops fighting in East Africa, the Middle East and in the trenches in France during the First World War did so under the Union Jack.

In 1925, after the first post-Union Afrikaner government took office, that a Bill was introduced in parliament to make provision for a national flag for the Union of South Africa. This action immediately led to some three years of civil strife and near civil war. The British thought that the Boere wanted to do away with their cherished Imperial symbols. The province of Natal even threatened to secede from the Union. A compromise was finally reached which resulted in the adoption of a flag for the Union late in 1927 and which was first hoisted on 31 May 1928. This was an orange, white and blue horizontal stripes with three smaller flags centered in the white stripe.  These 'flaglets' were the British Union Jack towards the hoist, the Orange Free State Vierkleur hanging vertically and the Transvaal Vierkleur towards the fly.  A further part of the compromise was that the British Union Jack would continue to fly alongside the Union national flag everywhere over official buildings. South Africa was thus the only country in the world that flew two national flags simultaneously.  This situation continued until 1957 when the Union Jack was finally dispensed with by an Act of Parliament.

More than one sharp-eyed person noted that the Union Jack is upside down.  It isn't upside down; it is being seen from the back!  This was an elaborate trick to keep any one of the three flags from having "precedence" - the British flag as portrayed is at the honor point (left); but since you are seeing the reverse, from the "proper" perspective the Union Jack is really on the right.