The Early Flags in Australia are the flags previous to Federation in 1901. Before Federation Australia was a collection of British colonial states. It is interesting to see the adoption of the Southern Cross as the predominant image representing Australian British ethnicity. In particular the Eureka Stockade flag, which was the first use of the Southern Cross without using a defaced ensign as the background field.

The Colonial Flag was one of the Australian colonial flags designed in the 1820's and supposedly the first to incorporate the Southern Cross. It proved unpopular as the St Andrews Cross didn't recognize the Scottish and Irish Australian population.

This is one of the Murray River Flag variants from the 1850's. These were a popular flag on the paddle ships and boats that run up and down the Murray.

The Eureka Flag which flew above Bakery Hill during the Eureka Stockade uprising in the minefields of Ballarat in 1854. The flag is most noticable for it's absence of the British Union Flag (Union Jack). It was one of the first occasions Australian identity was displayed without reference to British ancestry. The flag was inextricably equated with Australian liberty when Lalor made a speech on Bakery Hill, "We swear by the Southern Cross to stand truly by each other and defend our rights and liberties".

The New South Wales Ensign. The flag was also known as the Australian Colours or the Colonial Ensign. This flag proved popular from it's initial design in the 1830's; popular enough to be one of the entries in the 1901 Australian Flag competition that led to the modern day Australian Flag.

Flags of Australian Federation

The Flags of Federation include the flags that were included in the Flag Act with Australian Federation as well as the flags up until 1982, where the predominant basis for the Flag was a defaced ensign. A defaced ensign is a blue, red or white flag with a Union Flag (Union Jack) in the top left corner of the flag. It is defaced when the flag carries alternate imagery in the lower right of the flag. The current Australian flag for instance is a defaced blue ensign as it carries the Union Jack and is defaced with the white Australian star of federation and the stars of the states.

The British Union Flag. With Federation this was the official Australian Flag until 1953 when the Blue Ensign over-rode it when the Australian Flag Act was passed by parliament. Despite the Union Flag being the dominant official Australian Flag, Australians chose to fly the Civil Ensign (Red Ensign) to represent their Australian ethnicity.

The Australian National Flag since 1952. Before 1952 when the flying of the Blue Ensign was encouraged for private use, the flag was only to be flown from Federal Government Buildings. The flag was chosen after several entries in the Australian Flag competition in 1901 were of similar design. It was often flow by the Australian population along with the Red Ensign and the Union Jack as the flag representing Australianism.

The Australian Civil Flag known as the Red Ensign. The Civil Flag was intended to be flown by the Merchant Navy on the seas. The flag was adopted by the Australian population and was the main Australian Flag flown on land for private use until 1952 when Robert Menzies altered the Flag Act for the Blue Ensign to be the flag for private use. Most of the flags from World War I which are on display in the Australian War Memorial are the Red Ensign.

The White Ensign of the Royal Navy. This was the Naval Ensign for the Royal Australian Navy until 1967.

The White Ensign with the blue stars of the Southern Cross was adopted in 1967 under the Flag Act. The HMAS Booneroo was the first Royal Australian Navy ship commissioned under this flag. The use of an Australian White Ensign was a result of the Australian Navy being active in the Vietnam conflict. The Royal Navy was not a part of the Vietnam conflict and didn't want Australian ships to give the appearance of British participation.

The Ensign of the Royal Australian Air Force from 1921 - 1935. This flag is exactly the same as the Royal Air Force's ensign.

The Ensign of the Royal Australian Air Force from 1935 - 1948. The dominant British roundel was replaced with an angled golden southern cross. A golden Federal star was also included.

The Ensign of the Royal Australian Air Force from 1948 - 1982. The golden southern cross was replaced with white.

The Ensign of the Royal Australian Air Force since 1982. The roundel is now the roundel with the red kangaroo in the centre. The red kangaroo had been used on the fuselage roundel on RAAF aircraft since the mid-1950's with the wing roundels still being RAF roundels. With Australia participating in Vietnam and Britain not, it appears that the RAAF changed to all over kangaroo roundels in 1967.

Modern Australian Flags

Modern Australian Flags can be viewed as flags that dont incorporate British or European imagery into them, the Flags which have been added as recognized Flags to the Flag Act since 1982 have not been based on defaced ensigns. The most interesting of these have been the Northern Territories, and Australian Capital Territories Flags. The Northern Territory flag ushered in the flag design type of "Australia Pale" where the dominant image on the canton is the Southern Cross.

Flag of the Northern Territory which was designed by Robert Ingpen in 1978 when the Northern Territory attained self-government. The flag uses the bi-colour "Australia Pale" vexillogical design where the dark colour carries the Southern Cross and the lighter colour the territories emblem. The emblem is a stylised Sturts Desert Rose.

Flag of the Australian Capital Territory. The ACT attained self government in the 70's and adopted this flag in 1993. Like the Northern Territory flag the design was a non-ensign flag adopting the "Australia Pale" design and with the Southern Cross as the dominant image. Since the NT and ACT flag, there has been interest in changing the aged Colonial State flags of the Australian States to "Australia Pale" designs.

The Aboriginal Flag which was formally recognized as an "Australian Flag" under the Flag Act in 1995.

The Torres Strait Islander flag which was formally recognized as an "Australian Flag" under the Flag Act in 1995.

Australian Defence Forces Ensign used by the combined forces. This was recognized as an official Australian flag under the Flag Act in 2000.

Which national flag did the Australian Flying Corps use in World War I?

The Australian national flag wasn't formalised until 1953 with the Flag Act and up until then a mixture of the British Union Flag, the defaced Blue Ensign and the defaced Red Ensign was used. Early photography allows us to pick which ensigns were blue and which were red despite being black and white because of the orthochromatic technology used in making photos.

Note the dark flag in the bottom right. It is a red ensign. Orthochromatic film makes warm colours appear black and cool colours appear pale. The top flag looks to be a blue ensign. This is pretty normal for World War I as the blue flag represented government and the red flag was the civil flag. Formal military functions often mixed all three.

A good example of the orthochromatic effect is the Belgian roundel which is black, yellow and red. On film it appears as a black disc.

Most of Australian Vexillology up until the 1970s - with the noted exception of the Eureka Flag - has been around the Defaced Blue Ensign design. Since Robert Ingpen designed the Northern Territory flag in 1978 and produced the bi-colour 'Australian Pale" design it has been used by the Australian Capital Territory and many flag designers, such as Brendan Jones, who have made alternate state designs based on the Australian Pale. (more)

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 current state flags are forgettable and barely pierce the public conscience. Brendan Jones has been designing stunning state flags composed with state imagery and colours. When I saw his NSW flag, I emailed Brendan asking if it was possible to buy the flag so I could fly it off the front of my house. It appears I wasn't alone in that request as Brendan now has his flags for sale. Which is great. The flag I ordered is making its way to my door as I post this.

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Parliament has tabulated in amongst others, a bill to have the Eureka Flag added to the Flags Act 1953 , and recognized as an official Flag of Australia. (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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