The State flags based on a defaced Blue Ensign were all made redundant with Robert Ingpen's stunning Northern Territory flag. This style of flag became known as the Australia Pale where it places the southern cross in the dominant are of the flag. The current NSW flag is non-descript, not memorable, and given the modern colours and symbolism for NSW, it is irrelevant.

Australian Vexillology

I wrote a long article on Australian Vexillology which divided the history of our flags up into three periods, the Ensign, the Federation and the Modern. The NSW flag comes from the early colonial days of Australia. It is in the British flag tradition, and consists of a badge on a defaced Blue Ensign to represent government.

Originally the NSW flag was a Blue Ensign with NSW printed on it. Later the NSW letters were replaced by a yellow southern cross and crown. This lasted for six years until 1876 when it was replaced by the present flag. The badge on the current flag was designed by Architect James Barnet and the Royal Navy's Captain Francis Hixson.

The badge is exceptionally dated, to the point of being irrelevant to a modern New South Welshman, Sydney-sider, north-coaster or any other region of NSW. A St George Cross and golden lion are alien to modern NSW imagery and symbolism. Courtesy of sport, the colour of sky blue and the symbol of the Waratah have become inseparable from NSW.

Beyond the Ensign

The modern flag period was ushered in with the flying of the Aboriginal Flag. This was the first popular Australian flag since Eureka which did not include any British or European symbolism on it. Since then the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory have chosen modern flags. In sport, the Australian people have chosen another very modern flag to represent pride and fighting spirit in Boxing Matilda.

The challenge for flag designers is to dump the Blue Ensign for NSW, and incorporate the colours and symbols which represent the modern provincialism in NSW. This would need to include some combination of sky blue, waratah's and the southern cross. Brendon Jones is an Australian flag designer who has embraced the Australia Pale style of design, creating flags for all the Australian states. His design for NSW is stunning;

Another design for the NSW flag is from Harold Scruby. This takes the Norfolk Island flag as its inspiration. Note how Brendan Jones' original flag had a less descript Waratah, and now has a more detailed design.

Of those two, I prefer Jones' flag. I like the Australia Pale style. In a recent thread, Avocadia described an epilepsy inducing variant of the Eureka Flag, which I made up in the colours he described. But in a great example of horror turning to triumph, a pleasant design for NSW and Queensland variants of the Eureka Flag appeared. I had never thought of using the Eureka Flag in that manner. Without Avocadia's suggestion I would never have mucked around with the Eureka Flag in that manner.

All three of these are far more relevant to NSW than the NSW Blue Ensign. Not only that, they look better too. The designs are also closer to NSW history, drawing heavily on Australia's traditions, as opposed to British traditions from the pre-colonial and colonial periods.

Pluralism vs the Unitariat

I do not like the monopoly on symbolism the government has. It gets to decide which flag will be "the" flag; which then gathers an inertia all of its own. I would prefer that the government elevate new flags to the position so the people have multiple choices and can fly the flag which best represents them. I would urge Morris Iemma to make at the least Brendan Jones' NSW flag a valid NSW flag which can be flown to represent NSW. There is no need to demote the current NSW Blue Ensign, those that prefer it can still fly it.

cam

Cam Riley: South Sea Republic. Freedom, liberty, equity and an Australian Republic.

Comments
  • New flag for Victoria: I like the Australian Pale too—it\'s a distinctively Australian Symbolism and enforces a particular Flagginess about State flags that could otherwise be missing from our subnational Entities. Have you seen the US States and even Candada\'s Provincial flags? They\'re very unflaggy. Many of them are just the Great Seal of the State on an blue field. Symbols of the Government, not the People; very unamerican. (Americans are good in that they continuously remind us that the Government is just a branch of the People, not something separate from it. They\'re republicans through and through.)

    New South Wales\' lucky: their Warratah just screams \'Flag me!\' and is so easily stylised, appropriately for a flag.

    Unfortunately, I don\'t think there\'s any Australian pale design you could use that is appropriate for Victoria and incorporates our traditional Imagery. We\'ve used the Southern Cross since Time immemorial, and blue and white are our Colors. The Southern Cross that would occupy the \'customisable\' Spot on the Flag would clash badly with the Southern Cross on the side section. The Colors would also be difficult in the short term until the Australian flag is changed to something with more appropriate colors for Australia.

    So Brendan Jones has introduced a triangle charged with an eight-pointed star, such that the former looks like a V. The \'V\' stands for Victoria, not Victorians; and I have no idea what particularly Victorian imagery can be inferred from an eight-pointed star; after all, many New South Welsh flags (including unofficial proposals) of the past and present have included them. They have no place in Victorian imagery. Also, it\'s only a thinly-veiled V, and letters haven\'t really been that popular on a proper flag. (The early NSW and NZ flags were just ways of saying \'this or that part of the British Empire\'. I suppose you could say that Victoria\'s flag should just say \'this or that part of the Australian Federation\', but I\'m not so sure that\'s a useful goal.)

    On the other hand, the Victorian Southern Cross isn\'t really, well, Victorian. Even when Victorians see it, they\'ll often think of the Australian one. I suppose it\'s a bit like the way Sydney is Australia (a statement only people who\'ve never been to Sydney can dispute); Victorian imagery is just Australian...

    Still, I think the Southern Cross should serve as the basis, not the linkage, of a Victorian flag. It\'s always been ours: and not just something imposed (like the Crown, which isn\'t actually an integral part of either the Coat of Arms of Victoria, or the badge on the flag that originally limited the size of Southern Cross).

    (Personally, as an aside, I don\'t object out-of-hand too much to a use of a Crown. The, ahem, Republic of Austria uses a Crown in their Coat of Arms, for instance. Any republican Australia or New Zealand will probably retain the legal concept of the Crown unless we do more than just the minimalist changes. And after all, what\'s the current symbol of secular Victoria and Australia but a usurped representation of Christian symbolism? But said Crown will firstly be unpopular, and secondly need some other justification; history alone\'s probably insufficient. This justification might be difficult to come up with without talking of the Empire or some other equally anachronous sentiment, so I think it\'s best dispensed with.)

    The current Victorian Government, at least, has taken to using blue stars on a white background for their logo ( albeit inconsistently ). This helps distinguish Victoria from the Commonwealth. Actually, the entire logo is generally flag-shaped, and the triangle/V now augments and frames Victoria, rather than standing for Victoria. I think, if suitably modified, we can also avoid claims of political bias: The triangle-and-cross combination was used by the past Liberal Government, albeit with a crown ’twould be axed anyway.

    I\'d suggest for a Victorian flag to keep us going for the next hundred and thirty-odd years, the current Victorian Government\'s logo, without the word \'Victoria\' (extending the triangle-and-cross  to the full height, and/or cropping as appropriate), and with the triangle-and-cross now in the left-hand side. The Governor\'s flag could either maintain the current gold and red color scheme or simply be a blue/white inversion of the replacement state flag: But who knew the Governor had his own flag anyway?

    Failing that: I can only think of something like a blue-and-white (or white-and-blue) Canadian on Norfolk Island flag with a blue or white Southern Cross rather than a maple. Still, with nothing to augment the Southern Cross but the number of points on its stars, it doesn\'t shout Victoria enough.

    Also, his Tasmanian design lacks imagination, and I don\'t get the logo on his Queensland design, but I\'m not a Queenslander, so they might think it appropriate.

    That was rather longer than I meant it to be.
  • Coats of Arms: I also want to add that I\'m pretty happy with most of the Australian States\' Coats of Arms. I wish I would see them more often, and larger. (Though I\'m only really likely to see the Victorian one: Other states might use them more prominately than we do.)
  • cam . # .
    Some possibilities: other than the white-blue V. Eureka is pretty Victorian, so maybe permuations on the Eureka Flag in dark blue and white might be provincial enough. That puts a Victorian stamp on the Southern Cross.

    With blue borders on the top. I dont like this one though.

    Norfolk Island and Canadian style.

    I put one pixel borders of dark blue around them so they can be seen against the white background.

    cam
  • Distinctive Victorian Symbols: Tram rampant on a background of verdant MCG.
  • Unions?: Maybe it\'s just a Victorian thing, but Eureka strongly implies trade unions. While a Labor government might be happy enough to make it our flag, I think the Liberal party and their voters would be a little less agreeable to it.
  • cam . # .
    Eureka is the Australian flag of liberty: The BLF, plus nationalist groups got a hold of it because the conservatives were so busy denying Australia\'s heritage and trying to enforce an anglo history on us.

    The Eureka flag needs to be reclaimed as our flag and symbol of liberty. This was Lalor\'s speech at Eureka, as told by Carboni ;

    Peter Lalor, our Commander-in-chief, was on the stump, holding with his left hand the muzzle of his rifle, butt-end rested on his foot. A gesture of his right hand, signified what he meant when he said; \"It is my duty now to swear you in, and to take with you the oath to be faithful to the Southern Cross. Hear me with attention. The man who, after this solemn oath does not stand by our standard, is a coward at heart.\"

    \"I order all persons who do not intend to take the oath, to leave the meeting at once.\"

    \"Let all divisions under arms \'fall in\' in their round the flag-staff\"

    The movement was made accordingly. Some five hundred armed diggers advanced in real sober earnestness, the captains of each division making the military salute to Lalor, who now knelt down, the head uncovered, and with the right hand pointing to the standard exclaimed in a firm measured tone:-

    \"We swear by the Southern Cross to stand truly by each other, and fight to defend our rights and liberties.\"

    An universal well rounded amen, was the determined reply, some five hundred right hands stretched towards our flag.

    Emphasis mine.

    cam
  • More than just Melbourne: It might surprise some from this city of mine, but there\'s more to Victoria than just Melbourne.
  • Easier said than done: What\'s the BLF?

    I did realise that about Eureka, though—I\'ve been reading this site for long enough ;) Still, I suspect it\'ll take more than a little time to reclaim Eureka; or at least the flag. In the meantime, we\'d have to leave Union Jack and the Queen\'s Crown on the flag. Is that really appropriate?
  • cam . # .
    Builders Labourers Federation: Probably showing my age there. I think they have long since amalgamated with other Unions.

    cam
  • But of course: ... and it\'s remiss of me to suggest otherwise.  Perhaps a brawny farmer, in profile, pulling a plough?  A Latin inscription Victoria Brilliantis could be superimposed, in red and yellow colouring on a green field.  An abbreviation could be substituted if space became an issue.