Introduction
Most Australians know what the Australian national flag looks like. Few have any idea what the stars represent. The Southern Cross and the red white and blue crosses are the flag of the United Kingdom, the Union Jack. Even fewer people will know something about the Patron saints of Scotland, Ireland and England being represented by those crosses, very few will know that the symbols and colours of the flag predate the Christian era and even the Roman era. Yet this is where the story of Australia’s national flag really begins.
Australia needed its own Flag
Before Federation, (Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Proclaimed 1900 AD) Australia’s colonies flew their colonial flags with the flag of the United Kingdom, the Union Jack in the top left hand quarter.
Growing Australian nationalism in the 1850s inspired the use of many unofficial flags and a common feature was the Southern Cross, a constellation unique to southern skies. Among the better known flags in Australia’s early colonial history was the National Colonial flag (1823), the Anti-Transportation League flag (1851), the Murray River flag (1853), the Eureka flag (1854) and the Australian federation flag (1880s-1890s).
Captain John Single and Captain John Nicholson are credited with the first recorded attempt to design a national flag for Australia.. Their flag featured four stars of the Southern Cross on a red cross with the Union Jack in the canton on a white background. In his diary, Captain Single claimed that this design, created in 1823 or 1824, was accepted as the National Colonial flag of Australia by the Government of Sir Thomas Brisbane.
The Australasian Anti Transportation League was formed to organize protests against the transportation of convicts from Britain to Australia and New Zealand. It united various anti-transportation associations and its flag was unfurled at the League’s first meeting in Melbourne on 28 February 1851.
The original of this flag is preserved at the Queen Victoria Museum in Launceston. Made of silk, it measures about 274 centimeters by 366 centimeters. It has a deep blue background with a Union Jack in the top left-hand quarter and five stars arranged in the pattern of the Southern Cross. The Union Jack is hand-sewn in rose-red, white and blue and the stars are gold. The five stars represent Tasmania, Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia and New Zealand. A white silk border runs across the top and bottom and the right-hand side. A gold inscription along the bottom reads, “Australasian League, Tasmania, Instituted 1851″.
THE IMPORTANCE OF FLAGS
These early flags are important because they express, early in Australia’s colonial history, a sense of identity and responsibility. The Anti~Transportation League was one of the earliest expressions of the concept of federation and the understanding that the voices of the separate colonies would be heard more clearly if the colonies acted in unison.
In 1853, when transportation ended, the League dissolved never to fly the Anti-Transportation flag again.
Another unofficial flag, the Murray River flag was flown on the paddle steamers that operated the Murray River Trade in the 1850s. It featured the Southern Cross and the Union Jack and is still seen on the Murray River today.
ARMED REBELLION
The next flag that was used in Australia was the Eureka flag which used the colors and cross of their ancestors and displayed their rights under the British Constitution which go to the same ancestral source to resist the tragic misuse of law and illegal legislation.. The flag was used by gold miners at the Eureka Stockade at Ballarat in Victoria in November 1854. At a meeting at Bakery Hill on 29 November, the miners raised a plain blue flag with a white cross linking five white stars, one at the center and one at each corner, and swore an oath to fight to defend their rights. They were protesting against the introduction of a miner’s licence fee and other well perceived political and economic injustices.
On a rise, not far from Bakery Hill, the miners built a stockade of logs where they again raised the Eureka flag and gathered to defend themselves. On 3rd of December the police and military stormed the stockade in a surprise attack and shot dead about 30 miners.
A public meeting in Melbourne condemned the shootings. In later court trials the miners who had been taken prisoner were acquitted and an amnesty was later granted to all who had taken part in the rebellion. Although the miners lost the battle at the Eureka Stockade they succeeded in having many oppressive laws repealed. Their flag is now kept in the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery.
The Eureka flag is important because of its early use of the Southern Cross. It expressed a sense of identity growing out of the colonial period. It continues to be mis- used as a symbol of Anti- Constitutional Monarchy and Pro Republic. That would have horrified the people who fought and died at the Eureka Stockade. They were fighting for justice not separation from their own heritage. Expediency made it necessary to have a banner that was different from their opposition but still retain the blue background and the white cross.
THE AUSTRALIAN FEDERATION FLAG
The Australian federation flag was a popular symbol in the 1880s and 1890s of the movement for the federation of the colonies. The flag featured the stars of the Southern Cross in white placed on a blue cross on a white background. In the top left quarter of the flag was the Union Jack.
The flag was based on the New South Wales ensign of the 1830s which was a popular local banner until the 1890s when it was adopted as the Australian Federation flag. It was also known as the Australian ensign and was still seen as late as the 1920s. In fact, in 1902, Prime Minister Barton submitted it to the British authorities as an alternative to the design chosen for the Australian National flag through the 1901 competition. Thank goodness someone, somewhere new what they were doing and from a position of authority made the right choice.
From 1870 each Australian colony adopted as its flag a British blue ensign incorporating a different badge to distinguish it from the other colonies. On the 1st of January 1901 the six colonies united to form the Commonwealth of Australia..
Our Flag
In 1901, the new nation, The Commonwealth of Australia had concluded that it required a new flag with suitable symbols meaningful to all Australians. Even though many opposed it and preferred the Union Jack at the time and flew it at every opportunity the new flag eventually won the day. The separate States already had State flags of their own. These flags had the Union Jack on the top left quarter. All of these flags were popular so there was no doubt that any Australian flag of the future would have the Union Jack on it somewhere.
Australia’s Commonwealth flag was chosen from a National flag competition held in 1901 and initially started by the Melbourne monthly magazine, “The Review of Reviews for Australasia”. This seemed the fairest way to give as many people as possible the opportunity to participate in the flag design..So the new Federal Government announced a further competition (Gazetted 29 April 1901) and the earlier competition entries were transferred and the prize was increased to 200 pounds. Entrants were asked to send a design for two flags, one for official and naval purposes and the other for merchant ships.
The response from the public was overwhelming. The competition attracted 32, 823 entries which is a great effort considering that at the time there was only about 3 million Australians in total. The seven judges were all eminent Australians. Among them was a heraldry adviser, one member of Parliament, a journalist from the “Melbourne Herald”, and representatives from the army, navy, mercantile marine and pilot services. The entries were publicly displayed and the judges were allowed to decide their own criteria on which to make their choice.
On the morning of the 3rd September 1901, a huge flag of the winning entry was unfurled and flown from the Exhibition Building in Melbourne. The building was used to display all the flag entries. Finally, the winners were announced ( five similar ones) . First place was given to Ivor Evans but the 200 pound prize was split equally between the top five as the design was so close to each other. The five winners were:
William Stevens, Steamship Officer, Auckland, New Zealand (1866-1928)
Annie Darlington, Artist, Perth (1866-1926)
Ivor Evans, Student, Haymaker, Melbourne (1888-1960)
Leslie Hawkins, Student, Leichhardt, Sydney (1883-19??)
Egbert Nuttall, Architect, Prahran, Melbourne (1866-1963)
This flag was hoisted from the dome of the Exhibition Building in the presence of Australia’s first Prime Minister, Edmund Barton and the wife of Australia’s first Governor General, Lady Hometown. Our flag first flew officially at the opening of the Townsville Town Hall later that year.
The young Australian nation had a flag of their own from this time forward. The design had a mixed reception and caused some controversy at the time. The Australian Natives’ Association in particular felt that it was unsuitable or insufficiently patriotic.
The original design was similar to the current flag, except the Federation Star contained only 6 points and the Southern Cross was represented by stars ranging from 5 to 9 points to indicate their relative apparent brightness in the night sky. At first this flag was known as the Commonwealth blue ensign but later it became the Australian National flag. The Commonwealth red ensign, or merchant flag, was identical except that it had a red background instead of a blue one.
Initially confusion reigned over the two Australian flags. At first the blue ensign was intended for official naval purposes only and the red ensign was to be used by the merchant fleet. However, the public also began using the red ensign on land. (The Flag placed in the time capsule left by Antarctic explorer Sir Hubert Wilkins in 1939 was the Red ensign.)
The Shipping Registration Act 1981 confirmed that the Australian red ensign was the flag to be flown by Australian-registered merchant ships. Either the Australian blue ensign or the Australian red ensign can be flown by government ships, fishing vessels, pleasure craft, small craft and commercial vessels under 24 meters.
THEY OBVIOUSLY DIDN’T TRUST PARLIAMENT BACK THEN EITHER
The adoption of the winning flag design was never debated in the Australian Parliament . It was sent to the Imperial Authorities in England to be approved. It wasn’t until late 1902, King Edward VII formally notified the Australian Government of the approval and this approval was finally Gazetted on 20 February 1903.
In 1941 Prime Minister Menzies issued a press statement recommending the flying of the blue ensign as a national emblem on public buildings and schools and by private citizens, provided it was used with respect. The red ensign was to continue to be used by Australian merchant ships. In 1947 Prime Minister Chiefly expressed his support for this wider use of the blue ensign.
In recent years republicans have attempted to use the poem, “Our Own Flag,” by Banjo Patterson and say it was written to encourage us today to come up with a new flag. However, this particular poem was written before Federation. He was later to become a keen supporter of our present flag.
Up with the Stars
The design of the flag which was chosen has proven to be correct and popular. The choice of the Union Jack was appropriate as the states already had it on their individual flags. It also indicated our history and heritage.
The Federation Star has a point for each state and the territories of Australia, showing that the political power in our Commonwealth is divided equally among the states as well as the Commonwealth. The original design has been changed three times since 1901. First, in 1903 the design was changed so that all but the smallest star in the Southern Cross had seven points, ostensibly to improve the ease of manufacture. In 1906, Australia acquired the Territory of Papua, and to indicate this the number of points on the Federation Star was increased to seven in 1908. This second design change was Gazetted on the 22nd May 1909.
When the Northern Territory and ACT were created as Federal Territories in 1911, the number of points on the Federation Star was not increased but remained at seven.
THE FOUR CROSSES
The Southern Cross on the fly of our flag indicates the global position of our country. The three Christian crosses are complemented by the addition of Australia’s own cross ; the shining Southern Cross of our night sky. Flag critics say the Aboriginals, the early Australians, are not represented by our flag, but they forget the legends these people had regarding the Southern Cross, so it does speak of them in a beautiful way. All the stars on the Australian flag have seven points except for the small star in the Southern Cross. The formal name of the Southern Cross is Crux Australis and the individual stars are named by the first five letters of the Greek alphabet in order of brightness-(clockwise from the bottom star) Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and Epsilon..
The idea we must have a new flag in order to proclaim our true identity is a false one. Any identity crises which may exist with some individuals is a result of a dismal lack of comprehension of our flag’s symbolism. The identity crises theory is no more than a convenient smoke screen put forward by those whose real purpose is the rejection of all things Christian or British..
Recognition from Australian Legislation
The only legal recognition was from British Admiralty authorisations which only related to the use at sea. It wasn’t until the Flags Act of 1953 (enacted 1954) was passed by the Menzies Government that Australia finally had a legally acceptable national flag and one that was required to be flown in a superior position to any other national flag (including the Union Flag).
The Flags Act 1953 formally adopted the current design as Australia’s “National Flag” and the Act was assented to by Queen Elizabeth II on her first visit to Australia on the 15th April, 1954. The first Act of the Australian Parliament to receive assent by the Monarch rather than from the Governor General. Finally, more than 53 years after the first design was hoisted, Australia had a legalised national flag.
The Australian flag was usually flown in conjunction with, and often in an inferior position to, the Union Flag of the UK well into the 1960s despite the requirements of the Flags Act 1953. Many indigenous (born in Australia) Australians considered themselves to be Britons and Arthur Smout in his 1968, The Flag Book, lamented the fact that many seemed to show more loyalty to the Union Flag than to the Australian flag.. The Union Jack, for some people, was always the preferred flag and it was used widely in the community. For example, in 1931 it was draped over the coffin of Australia’s most famous soldier, General Sir John Monash.
The Australian National Flag in War
Various flags are associated with Australian participation in the First and Second World War. Military establishments in Australia flew the Australian blue ensign but recruiting drives such as the famous Coo-ee March from Gilgaandra to Sydney in 1915 .and patriotic support in general often relied on the Australian red ensign. On the battle fronts Australian servicemen would often serve under the Union Jack as they would the Australian blue ensign, oblivious in the main and accepting in their easy going way, most probably not realizing it directly, but maybe feeling it underneath that the Union Jack did not just represent a country, a piece of dirt as such but represented freedom and a race of people, their culture, their ancestry and it was as familiar to them in the Western desert or Malaya. They were united with all the other Anglo/Celts with the Union Jack, their political systems and their blood..
Australian merchant mariners served under the Australian red ensign. Australian naval vessels used the British Royal Navy ‘s white ensign, with the Australian blue ensign at the bow as an additional flag. The Royal Australian Air Force used the British Royal Air Force ensign during the Second World War, although individual planes often bore an Australian flag painted on their fuselage.
MANY SUFFERED FOR THE FLAG
I have had many wartime experiences related to me by Australian service men. Some hardly saw our national flag and others tell of prisoners of war being tortured and executed for hiding an Australian National flag in a Japanese Prison Camp. It’s to these sons of Australia who showed the way. Full on heroes, martyrs for our flag. They showed us where our loyalties lay, to them we owe a debt, which we can never repay. But at least we can fight to retain the flag that they knowingly sacrificed their lives to protect.
An Australian blue ensign was raised in Singapore when the Japanese surrender was announced in 1945.
This flag had been made secretly by Australian prisoners of war who stitched a small Union Jack, that had escaped the notice of Japanese guards, onto a piece of blue material obtained from Japanese stores. White handkerchiefs from Red Cross parcels made up the stars.. The flag was raised over the ‘X3′ working camp at Bukit Panjang and later over the Australian Imperial Forces headquarters at Changi. This flag is among the many historic flags that are preserved at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.
DEBUT AT THE OLYMPICS
At the first modern Olympic Games, held in Athens in 1896, an Australian, Edwin Flack, won the 800 and 1500 meter track events but there was no official Australian flag to fly. At the Paris Olympics in 1900, when Frederick Lane won the 200 meter swimming event, the flag raised to represent the Australian win was the Union Jack.
Since then the Australian national flag has been raised at the opening ceremony of every Olympic Games and to honor the medal-winning performance of Australians. It also flew as the flag of the host nation in 1956, at the Olympic Games in Melbourne. In 2000, Sydney hosted the games of the 27th Olympiad and hopefully from now on we will always fly our national flag for the next thousand years at least.