One of Australia's greatest assets has been its pluralistic nature. The idea of a unitary national flag is only a recent notion in Australia. Prior to 1953 Australians flew a mix of the Union Jack, Blue Ensign and Red Ensign to display their Australian identity. Recently the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Flags were elevated by the Flag Act to 'official flags of Australia', which suggests that Australia can still handle flag pluralism. This may be the solution to the hardly unanimous support for the current Australian national flag. (more)
The tradition of Australian flags can be divided into the three periods, the colonial period, the federation period and the modern period. The colonial period denotes early representations of defaced British Ensigns incorporating a mixture of British and Australian imagery. The federation period extends from 1901 to 1971 when the Blue and Red defaced British ensigns were adopted as flags to represent Australian ethnicity by the Australian Federal government. The modern period begins with the flying of the Aboriginal Flag as Australians incorporated Australian imagery into flags outside of the British Ensign tradition.
In terms of independent heraldic traditions being developed in Australia the Eureka Stockade flag was the most significant of the colonial period. The Eureka flag was unique for its time in that it did not carry any European imagery. Through Peter Lalor's speech at Bakery Hill, the Southern Cross was indelibly entwined with Australian liberty. The significant event of the federation period was the Flag Act of 1954 officially adopting the Blue Ensign as the Australian National Flag over the British Union Flag. The modern era has produced flags of great beauty and meaning such as the Aboriginal Flag, the Boxing Kangaroo flag, the Torres Strait Islander Flag and the development of the unique Australian Pale design.
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