Union Jack 1801 - The Act of Union 1801 merged Ireland with the Kingdom of Great Britain (which was formally created by the union of England and Scotland in 1707) to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland with effect from 1 January 1801. The Union Jack was modified to reflect this constitutional change by adding a Cross of St. Patrick to represent Ireland. A red diagonal cross on a white field has never been the traditional flag of Ireland nor even associated with St Patrick prior to 1801. Its use seems to have been only a heraldic convenience. The emblem had been used on some Irish coats of arms, including those of the FitzGerald family, early Royal representatives in Ireland. The traditional emblem of Ireland is a golden harp on a blue or green background; when a female figure is added to the fore-pillar of the harp it is called the Maid of Erin.
In Australia, the Union Jack was the sole official flag for use on land until Federation. After the creation of the Australian flag, the Union Jack continued to be regarded as the national flag of Australia, though gradually such usage was shared with the Australian red ensign, and later with the Australian blue ensign. The Flags Act 1953 has a clause that authorises the continued use of the Union Jack in Australia, though its usage has declined from the 1970s.
Red Ensign 1801 - The British red ensign was altered in 1801 to include the change to the design of the Union Jack. British legislation required, with a few exceptions, that all merchant shipping throughout the British Empire fly the British Red Ensign, without any defacement or modification. The ensign is sometimes referred to as the red duster. The Royal Navy stopped using the Red Ensign in 1864.
Bowman Flag - The oldest known locally designed flag in Australia was created by John and Honor Bowman in 1806. It was flown from their home near Richmond, NSW to celebrate news of the victory of Lord Horatio Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805. As the Royal Navy fleet moved towards engagement with a combined French and Spanish fleet, he hoisted signal flags that spelled out England expects that every man will do his duty. This famous phrase was embroidered onto a silk flag that included a shield featuring a rose, thistle and shamrocks. The use of the kangaroo and emu as supporters for the shield is the first known use of these animals as symbols of Australia. The original of the Bowman flag is in the collection of the State Library of NSW.
National Colonial Flag - Captain John Bingle, a former mariner, wrote his memoirs in 1881 in which he stated that Captain John Nicholson and he had designed a flag for use as a national colonial flag for Australia. He claimed that the flag had been approved by NSW Governor Sir Thomas Brisbane in 1823, though no other record of the flag or any approval has been found. The flag has been promoted as the earliest Australian flag and the first use of the Southern Cross on a flag. The image is of a reconstruction of the flag by Sydney vexillologist, John Vaughan, based on an interpretation of Bingle's written description.
NSW Ensign / Australian Ensign - A flag chart contained in an 1832 book, New South Wales Calendar and General Post Office Directory included a flag that was captioned N.S.W. Ensign. It shows a white British ensign with a blue cross overall upon which are five 8-pointed stars. This flag is believed to have been widely used as a local merchant shipping flag in Sydney and on the east coast of Australia, becoming known as the Australian Ensign. The flag however was unofficial and in 1883, the British Admiralty prohibited its continued use by vessels due to its claimed similarity to the Royal Navy's White Ensign.
Anti-transportation League - Formed in Launceston to oppose the transportation of convicts to Australia, the Australasian League for the Abolition of Transportation had established branches in several colonies by 1851. At a meeting in Melbourne a large flag was unfurled - it was a British blue ensign upon which were four golden stars forming the Southern Cross. This is the first known flag using the Southern Cross in a natural arrangement and it is considered to be a significant antecedent to the current Australian National Flag. The original flag is in the collection of the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston. The League was dissolved when transportation to Tasmania ended in 1853.
Murray River Flag - The first paddle-steamer went into service on the Murray River in 1853 and a flag called the Murray Flag was flown in its honour. Though the flag was used by many of the paddle steamers, no example has survived and there are no contemporary illustrations. The flag was described by a 1854 journalist's report as "it bears a red cross with four horizontal bars of blue, the cross being charged with five stars as emblems of the different Australian colonies". The illustration represents a reconstruction by Frank Cayley in 1966. The flag continues to be used by craft on the Murray River, including several historic paddle steamers and more modern tourist boats. A different version of the Murray River Flag is promoted in South Australia, based on an alternate interpretation of the contemporary description.
Eureka Flag - Gold miners in Ballarat, Victoria protested about various grievances, which led to the short-lived Eureka rebellion of 1854. At a meeting of 12,000 miners on 29 November 1854 a new flag was raised as a gesture of defiance against the Victorian Government. The Eureka Flag was dark blue with five stars representing the Southern Cross, the stars joined together by a broad white cross. The rebellion ended on 3 December 1854 with colonial troops and police storming the Eureka Stockade and hauling down the flag from the pole erected there as a rallying point.
The Eureka Stockade and its flag have become historical symbols of the wider struggle by Australians for democracy and national identity. The original flag was re-discovered in the early 1960s and is now on public display at the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery. The Eureka Flag continues to evoke strong feelings and it has been used to support a variety of political and trade union causes. In deference to its authentic Australian heritage, some Australians advocate that the Eureka Flag become the Australian national flag.
Queensland Separation Flag - A separate colony of Queensland was established on 10 December 1859. Separation from New South Wales was celebrated by the flying of a new flag - the Queensland Ensign, which has become known as the Queensland Separation Flag. Only a written description exists - "a light blue flag with a red St George's Cross and union in the corner"; the illustration represents a reconstruction. It is unclear for how long the flag was used. The flag continues to be flown at Newstead House in Brisbane.
Lambing Flat - Strikes and unemployment on the goldields in southern NSW in the early 1860s were the catalyst for violence and riots directed against immigrant Chinese labourers. One of the worst disturbances was at Lambing Flat (now Young) where, on 30 June 1861 miners attacked the Chinese quarter wounding several labourers. A public meeting of miners had been advertised by a banner painted on the side of a tent. At its centre was a Scottish St. Andrews Cross with four white stars. It is possible that this emblem was intended to refer to the Eureka Flag with its white cross and stars of the Southern Cross. Despite the harshness of the "No Chinese" slogan, this remains an important historical relic. Painted on canvas, it is not a flag strictly, but is considered significant in showing the early emergence of the Southern Cross as an Australian symbol. The banner is on display at the Lambing Flat Folk Museum, Young.
Victorian red ensign - On 1 February 1870 Victoria adopted two flags - a blue flag with the Southern Cross for use by the first Australian colonial warship (HMCS Nelson) and a red version for use by the mercantile marine. The Victorian Red Ensign was approved by the British Board of Trade, even though this was contrary to the normal practice that colonial shipping was required to use the British Red Ensign without a badge. It was used (without any crown) until 1903 and it came to be flown on land, particularly in the lead-up to Federation.
This red ensign was a clear antecedent of the winning design in the 1901 competition for an Australian flag. The Australiian flag design was merely the Victorian Red Ensign with the addition of the six-pointed Federal Star. It should be noted that the arrangement of stars was 9,8,7,6 and 5-pointed and the badge extended over the full area of the fly of the flag - identical to the layout of the winning Australian design (though the stars on the blue Victorian state flag had altered to 8,7,7,6 and 5 points in 1876).
Queensland 1870 - The badge for the first flag for Queensland was adopted on 22 March 1870 by Governor Samuel Blackall. It consisted of a portrait of the young Queen Victoria crowned with the Diamond Diadem together with the inscription Queensland. The badge clearly attests that the colony had been named in honour of the Queen. However it was difficult to produce on bunting a fair representation of the head of Her Majesty and the decision was made in 1876 to replace the badge with the current design.
Tasmanian Colonial Flag - On 9 November 1875, the Tasmanian government proclaimed a new Colonial Flag for use by local ships. It was a British red ensign with the addition of a white cross overall and the Southern Cross. However, it was revoked on 23 November - only 14 days later - when it was realised that the flag was contrary to British Admiralty rules for colonial flags. The flag however did have some continued existence - on the label of Cascade Brewery's Sparkling Pale Ale beer during the 1920s through to the 1940s.
South Australia 1876 - The British Admiralty rules required that the colonial flags be the British Blue Ensign with a badge consisting of the public seal of the colony or some other drawing to represent the colony. In 1870 Victoria, NSW, New Zealand and South Australia each submitted to London badge designs that featured the Southern Cross. In response to criticism from the British Admiralty, on 24 March 1876 South Australia decided to use its seal on the flag. This was a complex allegorical scene of Britannia meeting an Australian Aboriginal seated on a rock on a beach. This flag was in use until 1904 when it was replaced by the current design.
Federation Flag - In the mid-1880s efforts to join the separate Australasian colonies into an Australian federation increased. The earlier Australian Ensign was revived for use on land and in printed materials to promote federation, particularly in NSW and Queensland. In the absence of an official Australian flag in January 1901, this Federation Flag was widely used. When Prime Minister Edmund Barton submitted the winning design in the Federal flag competition to the British authorities in 1902, he also included the Federation Flag as Design B - an alternative for adoption as the new Australian national flag. It was rejected without any consideration as it did not conform to the style of official British flags. Usage as an unofficial Australian flag continued until Word War I.
Herald Federal Flag - With Federation approaching questions arose as to what the flag of a federated Australia should be. In 1900 the Melbourne Evening Herald newspaper conducted a public competition for a Federal Flag. Mr F. Thompson won the £25 prize and the flag has become known as the Herald Federal Flag. Federation was symbolised with six red stripes below the Union Jack and Australia was represented by the Southern Cross. Two versions were created, one with the Southern Cross on a blue background for use by the Government and another for general use with a red backgound. The design was both praised and criticised, leading to another competition by the Review of Reviews for Australasia magazine that was later incorporated into the Federal Government's flag design competition in 1901.
Royal Standard 1901 - The inauguration of the Commonwealth of Australia took place on 1 January 1901, with the formal ceremony in Centennial Park, Sydney. As there was no official Australian flag, this and other celebrations were marked with the use of the Federation Flag, the Victorian Red Ensign and the Union Jack. Above the Swearing-in-Pavilion, the flag flown was the British Royal Standard, marking the presence of the Governor-General, the Earl of Hopetoun.
Governor General 1903 - A flag for the Governor-General was adopted in 1903 in the usual form for colonial governors. It was a Union Jack with a central disc containing the badge of Australia - a six pointed star surmounted by a crown. Initially, the Governor-General was the representative of the British Government in Australia and all major correspondence between the Australian Government and Britain passed through the office of the Governor-General. The Statute of Westminster 1931 changed the relationship between the Dominions and Britain and this was reflected by the appointment of a separate British High Commissioner in 1931 and a change in the flag of the Governor-General in 1936.
Australia: People's Flag - The 1901 flag competition winning design was announced on 3 September 1901 and the selected design was subsequently modified and formally adopted from 20 February 1903, with a further change to the current design from 23 February 1908. Initially the blue version of the Australian flag was limited to government use and the red was only intended for use by private shipping. At sea the use of the Union Jack was prohibited except on warships of the Royal Navy and there was uncertainty as to whether ordinary people could use the Union Jack on land.
The practice developed during the 19th century in Britain and other parts of the Empire for the British Red Ensign to be used on land when private citizens wanted to fly a flag from a building. This practice explains why the flag of Canada until 1965 was a red ensign. Accordingly, the Australian Red Ensign was the flag used when businesses and individuals wanted to fly a local flag, either in addition to or in place of the Union Jack. The Australian Red Ensign historically can be considered to be the People's Flag, though there was no contemporary use of this description.
What flag has a red and blue cross?
national flag consisting of a red field bearing a large blue cross outlined in white. The flag has a width-to-length ratio of 8 to 11. On February 27, 1814, the crown prince Christian Frederick created the first distinctive Norwegian national flag.
Why is the Eureka Flag important?
The Eureka Flag is historically significant as evidence of the growing movement agitating for fairness and universal democracy in 19th century Australia. The flag represents the oft mythologised notion of the Australian 'fair go' and the right of the individual over tyranny.
Is the Eureka Stockade flag still used today?
Today the flag is flown by some unions and it has been used as a symbol of the republican movement and the birth of Australian democracy. In standing up against injustice the miners lost the fight but won their rights as Australian citizens.
Can I fly the Eureka Flag?
The Eureka flag is considered a union symbol under the federal building code. Companies that tender for federally funded construction projects cannot allow the flag to be flown on work sites.