Australian proposed flags

Last modified: 1997-09-03 by filip van laenen
Keywords: australia | proposal | southern cross | aboriginal | oceania |
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• Ausflag proposal
• Aboriginal proposal
• Jones' proposal
• Czernkowskis proposal

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• Australia

It is promoted by Ausflag, a nonprofit body seeking to engender public support for a new Australian flag. Recent opinion polls show only 35% support for a new flag, but the numbers are growing, and more ominously, there is 45% support for a change in the 25-39 age group.

Ausflag ran a design competition for a new Australian flag in conjunction with The Australian newspaper in late 1993, with the winning design (above) announced on 17 December 1993. The competition had a total prize pool of A$25,000, with A$15,000 going to the winner, Mark Tucker, a graphic designer from Sydney.

The red arc at the bottom represents Uluru (formerly known as Ayers Rock, a huge monolith in the centre of Australia), and the blue above represents our clear, wide skies. Retention of the Southern Cross was seen as crucial, as it has been incorporated into many symbols of Australia and the fact that it is extremely popular with the public.

Using red, white and blue provides continuity with our existing flag and is still symbolic of our British history without the need to replicate the British flag in its entirety as part of the design.

The copyright of this design is vested in Ausflag.

Brendan Jones

Ausflag is a voluntary, apolitical, non-profit organisation seeking to promote high quality debate about Australia's national symbols. It was established in 1981 by Harold Scruby and other interested Australians with the objective of securing the popular support of the Australian people for the adoption of a truly Australian flag: "A flag which clearly and unequivocally proclaims our identity to other nations, a flag which is internationally recognisable and not confusing to other nations, and a flag which unites the Australian nation in all its diversity."

Ausflag is not and has never been anti-British. It is, simply, pro- Australian.

Since its inception, Ausflag has regularly promoted alternative designs for a new Australian flag, held public flag design competitions with significant reward, and otherwise promoted debate about Australia's national flag through the media and public forums.

The Ausflag site contains an unparalleled wealth of detailed, accurate, and referenced information about Australian flags. The site is divided into four main sections:

• AUSFLAG - Information about Ausflag itself, Ausflag's flag design competitions, proposed Australian flags, how to design a flag, and promotional Ausflag posters.
• FLAGS SINCE 1788 - A comprehensive history of Australia's flags (national, state and territory) since 1788, with flag images and information about flag changes in Australia over the years.
• THE FLAG DEBATE - Information about the flag debate itself: opinion pieces, polls, and newspaper and magazine articles. Some newspaper clippings are provided on-line!
• FOR FURTHER INFORMATION - Information about vexillological terms, flag journals, links to other WWW flag resources and other sites, and flag references. A copy of the Australian Flags Act 1953 is also here.

Quoted from a press-release from Ausflag, posted to the flags mailing list by Brendan Jones, 1995-OCT-09

Aborigenal proposal

posted by Ed Haynes

The previous flag violates heraldic guidelines about not having expanses of colour next to colour (e.g. large amount of red immediately abutting blue). It's only a guideline, and flags such as Haiti violate it, but generally such clashes don't look good.

Secondly, the designer of the Aboriginal flag, Harold Thomas, does not believe the Aboriginal flag should ever be used in such a way. It is a symbol in its own right, and should not be used as an adjunct or part of something else.

However, the sentiment is something I agree with, but I think design-wise it is only a first step. I think it would be better to use the Aboriginal colours in a new design, rather than a representation of the Aboriginal flag itself. See my idea of a new Australian flag for 2001 I have made this design up in cloth, 1 by 2 metres in size, and waved it at the recent Australia v England cricket test match in Sydney. I am now shamelessly seeking to promote it! :-)

Brendan Jones

Czernkowkskis original proposal

Personally, I am somewhat disappointed by all the complicated and unheraldic designs for a new flag (especially that disgusting red, yellow and black kangaroo thing). A symbol is powerful if it is simple. My preferences, in order:

• a simple blue flag with a Southern Cross on it (bugger the Commonwealth star, since there's very little chance of states leaving the Federation; besides, any proposals with the Commonwealth Star but without the Union Jack just look plain unwieldy).
• the old Ausflag proposal, with the Southern Cross on blue field, with STRAIGHT white and red stripes along the bottom. (Also at Ausflag
  )
• The Eureka flag - now that's a flag that reflects the history of what it is to be Australian: rebellion, fighting for what you believe in, and being shafted by the Poms, as well as being simple and distinctive.

Robert Czernkowski 30-JUN-1995

The links are from Brendan Jones, 1995-JUL-03.

Comments from Brendan Jones

I think if Australia is to change its flag then it should be a bold symbol that makes some solid statement about Australia as a nation.

A slightly complex or "unheraldic" design IMO is better than a bland one, or one that sacrifices substance and eminence for a shallow but superficially appealing design.

About that disgusting red, yellow and black kangaroo thing:
Well on that I agree. I wouldn't call this flag "disgusting" but it doesn't have the stateliness befitting a national flag.

About bugger the Commonwealth star, since there's very little chance of states leaving the Federation; besides, any proposals with the Commonwealth Star but without the Union Jack just look plain unwieldy:
I think it would be a mistake to drop the Commonwealth star in a new design. Sure, four stars of the Southern Cross still have 7 points, but a separate, larger Commonwealth star reinforces our heritage as a federal state and honours what forged our nation. It should hold the pre-eminent spot on any new design (again IMO).

About the Eureka flag:
The problem with the Eureka flag is that it has been appropriated by all sorts of disaffected minority groups (both extreme left and extreme right) as a symbol of rebellion, race-hate, and destruction of the state. It is an attractive flag, but it could not now be a unifying national symbol representing peace and tolerance!

About [Czernkowskis] personal preference before any of these it to keep the Australian blue ensign. It has served us well.:
It has served us well, but I think we can do better. We should be honouring more than our British heritage - we should honour the Australian nation first and foremost.

Brendan Jones, 1995-JUL-03

Comments from Robert Czernkowski on Brendan Jones' comments

And some of Brendan's comments:
Regarding the commonwealth star, the reason I don't like it is that it seems unwieldy. The design I recall seeing was virtually unchanged from the blue ensign except that the Union Flag was removed and the star was moved from lower hoist to centre hoist. It just looks to much like an "adjusted" blue ensign. If we must change, I think we should go for a bold new design, IMHO.

Having started out as a republican and flag changer, I have since decided that we are fundamentally a British nation. That's where our institutions come from, our system of law (well, that bit comes from England - the Scots would kill me if I let that one lie) and our history. We, like the British, have moved forward to embrace modern multiculturalism. People tend to reject our British heritage because they look back at people like Menzies etc. But we are fundamentally grounded in the Anglo-Saxon tradition, and no amount of ho-humming is going to change that, IMO. In any case, monarchism versus republicanism has nothing to do with the Windsors. At issue is the system of government we use in Australia.

Robert Czernkowksi, 1995-JUL-03

James Dignans comments

About Regarding the commonwealth star, the reason I don't like it is that it seems unwieldy. The design I recall seeing was virtually unchanged from the blue ensign except that the Union Flag was removed and the star was moved from lower hoist to centre hoist. It just looks to much like an "adjusted" blue ensign.:
Speaking as a New Zealander, I usually find that it's the commonwealth star that people use to tell the difference between our two flags. One suggestion I have heard for the Australian flag was a flag identical to the current one, but with the Union Jack canton replaced with a canton featuring the red black and gold Aboriginal flag.

As for: [Brendan Jones] think[ing that] if Australia is to change its flag then it should be a bold symbol that makes some solid statement about Australia as a nation.:
I'm sure us in New Zealand could think of some good solid statements about Australia as a nation ;). Seriously though, both of our nations are unusual in that the colours used to represent national sports and cultural groups are not those shown on the flag. In Australia's case, green and gold are the colours most readily associated with Australia, so surely these colours would be more appropriate to use on an Australian flag. Having said that, I too am monarchist enough to recognise the elements of the British flag might still have some place within a possible flag design. Perhaps some solution such as South Africa has recently achieved is possible, where the black green and gold of the ANC were superimposed on the red white and blue of the Dutch flag.

No, I am not suggesting a green and gold Union Jack!!!

James Dignan, 1995-JUL-04