Flag History
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.

Australian Pale
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)
Identity and Flag Pluralism

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)
Brendan Jones' Flags Available For Purchase

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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Guy : Looks great!:
A Bill For The Eureka Flag

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)
cam : Using the Eureka Motif for the State Flags: I have done in the past NSW;

and Queensland;

I couldn\'t get Victoria, South Australia or Western Australia to come out with a nice Eureka based design, the colours weren\'t right. But Tasmania, despite a red and green background came out well;

However I remain a fan of Brendon Jones\' Australian Pale state flags.

cam
Felix the Cassowary : Governor-General\'s proclaimed flags: Regarding the Governor-General\'s ability to proclaim flags, were they actually proclaimed by the various Governor-Generals of their own initiative, without any oversight by the Cabinent? I always assumed that the G.-G.\'s ability to proclaim flags was just Westminster Government style language: The G.-G. proclaims the flag, but he\'d only do it if the Prime Minister of the day \"advised\" him to, and if the PM had advised him, then he\'d do it. This is not part of a political role of a Governor-General, no more so than the fact that till Commonwealth legislation has the G-G\'s signature (or the Queen\'s), it\'s not in force. It\'s just a piece of eccentric wording a hundreds-years-old governmental system is likely to have, and a very smart way of allowing future evolution: saying \"Prime Minister\" makes it harder to allow alternations between a presidential the-Prime-Minister-is-king system like we currently have, and a collegial the-Prime-Minister-is-first-amongst-equals system like we used to have, and I expect we will have once again.

But you\'re saying, to the contrary, that (some of the) proclaimed flags were proclaimed by a Governor-General on his own initiative, without the Prime Minister first advising him to do so? That would indeed by an unexpected use of the Governor-General\'s power. I would\'ve thought a constitutional crisis would\'ve ensued, but I haven\'t heard of any.
avocadia : I red carded myself: I have banned myself from making up flag designs. After my last effort, which Cam so foolishly/cruelly (:- ) made a reality, I think y\'all will thank me.
avocadia : Politics prevented crisis:

The wording of the section seems to me (IANAL) to give the GG the power to declare flags as Australian flags on his own. Section 63 of the Constitution caveats all references to the GG in the Constitution as really meaning the PM and his cabinet. Unless there is some other piece of legislation extending section 63 to be a blanket qualifier on all references to the Governor-General within and outside of the Constitution, then we may believe that the power granted in the flags act is unexpected but it is only because we have fooled ourselves into believing it so.

Even if it was unexpected, the GG stole a march on the PM. I am of the opinion that it would have created a worse constitutional crisis for the PM to step in and overruke the proclamation. There would have been some hair-splitting on exactly where the letter of the law was trumped by expectation, and it would have highlighted the dysfunctional state of the Australian executive. This would not have suited Howard\'s politics, so not crisis. On the other hand, we did get a crisis, or at least a media beatup, when WIlliam Deane turned out to have an opinion on Aboriginal affairs markedly counter to that of Howard. The difference was, there wasno exercise of power involved, so all Howard had to do was a quick, public "back in your box."
cam : Except: The Tasmanian one is almost exactly the same as the one you described, but with the white stars, instead of yellow. ... I think your red card was removed at the tribunal.

cam
cam : I had a quick look in Hayden\'s biogaphy: I couldnt find it. I know it is mentioned in there, but it isnt indexed, and I havent made a note on the inside cover about it. I will have a mroe detailed look when I have time. I got the the impression that it was the Governor-General\'s decision, previously it had been so defence flags and state governor flags could be made \"flag of Australia\" (the GG is the commander in chief after all). But this was an extensions of it, and a positive one IMO.

Surey Bill Hayden has an email address, we should probably try and ask him ourselves the circumstances and events around it.

cam
cam : Trackbacks: Road To Surfdom, Imagining Australia:

cam
cam : The Goggles, they do nothing: Ugh, 1997 called and wanted its frontpage theme back . The GG\'s site isn\'t pretty.

I emailed the GG office asking about the circumstances. The guts of the email;

I was wondering about the circumstances of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander flags being elevated to official flags of Australia using Section 5 of the Flags Act.

Can that authority be used by the Governor-General without advice from Cabinet? Or does the authority to use Section have to come from Cabinet first, and then be implemented by the Governor-General?

cam
cam : Western Australia Eureka-ised:

Though the Eureka southern cross is turned on its side in a mimicry of the Australia Pale design. But if that is the case, it may as well be a proper Australia Pale design instead - like this one .

Stars might look better white too.

cam
Australian Vexillology

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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Rowdy : New Green and Gold Flag for a republic: To view a new green and gold flag that might be suitable for an Australian Republic, visit:
http://www.7gs.com.au/flag.html
Rowdy : Moved website: The page in the above comment has been moved to:
http://www.7gs.com/flag.html
Cam Riley: South Sea Republic. Freedom, liberty, equity and an Australian Republic.