Thread: The Australian Flag

DOCUMENT NO. 2:
PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES. SENATE. HANSARDS.
9 OCTOBER 1901.


COMMONWEALTH FLAG AND SEAL.

Senator PEARCE asked the Vice-President of the Executive Council, upon notice--

1. Whether it is the intention of the Government to officially recognise the flag and seal to which prizes were awarded at the recent competitions as the flag and seal of the Commonwealth?

2. Before such recognition, will the Government give the Senate an opportunity to give an opinion as to the suitability of such flag and seal?

Senator O'CONNOR.-- In answer to the honorable senator, I have to say--

The Imperial Government, through the Secretary of State for the Commonwealth, requested this Government to suggest designs for the flag and seal. With the view of suggesting such designs, the recent competitions were held. The prize designs, and possibly others, will be forwarded to the Imperial Government. The final decision does not rest with the Commonwealth.

Originally Posted by Lejon

DOCUMENT NO. 2:
PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES. SENATE. HANSARDS.
9 OCTOBER 1901.


COMMONWEALTH FLAG AND SEAL.

Senator PEARCE asked the Vice-President of the Executive Council, upon notice--

1. Whether it is the intention of the Government to officially recognise the flag and seal to which prizes were awarded at the recent competitions as the flag and seal of the Commonwealth?

2. Before such recognition, will the Government give the Senate an opportunity to give an opinion as to the suitability of such flag and seal?

Senator O'CONNOR.-- In answer to the honorable senator, I have to say--

The Imperial Government, through the Secretary of State for the Commonwealth, requested this Government to suggest designs for the flag and seal. With the view of suggesting such designs, the recent competitions were held. The prize designs, and possibly others, will be forwarded to the Imperial Government. The final decision does not rest with the Commonwealth.

but...

Flags Act 1953
Reproduced in accordance with S.182A of the Copyright Act 1968.
The Flags Act 1953 is Copyright Commonwealth of Australia.

TABLE OF PROVISIONS
1. Long Title
2. Short Title
3. The Australian National Flag
4. The Australian Red Ensign
5. Other Flags
6. Warrants to use flags
7. Rules as to use of flags
8. Flying of Union Jack
SCHEDULE 1. The Australian National Flag and the Australian Red Ensign
SCHEDULE 2. Reproduction of Flags

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


1. Long Title


An Act to declare a certain Flag to be the Australian National Flag and to make other provision with respect to Flags.


2. Short Title


1. This Act may be cited as the Flags Act 1953.
2. This Act extends to all the Territories.


3. The Australian National Flag


1. The blue flag described in Schedule 1, being the flag a reproduction of which is set out in Part I of Schedule 2, is declared to be the Australian National Flag.
2. The blue flag referred to in subsection (1) ceases to be the Australian National Flag if, and only if:
(a) a new flag or flags, and the flag referred to in subsection (1), are submitted in each State and Territory to the electors qualified to vote for the election of members of the House of Representatives; and
(b) the new flag, or one of the new flags, is chosen by a majority of all the electors voting. 3. The form and manner in which a proposal for a new Australian National Flag is submitted to electors, and the manner in which a vote on the proposal is taken (which may include the adoption of a form of preferential voting for choosing among 3 or more flags), and arrangements for adopting a new flag as the Australian National Flag if chosen as mentioned in subsection (2), are to be as the Parliament prescribes.
4. In this section: Territory means any Territory referred to in section 122 of the constitution in respect of which there is in force a law allowing its representation in the House of Representatives.


... etc..

The Flags Act did not change the design - it remained a flag for a British Possession .

Plus - before and after the Flags Act all Australian Citizens remained British subjects and British Nationals .

It was the ' National Flag ' of a British people .

Australians remained British subjects until the Australia Acts 1986 terminated all british jurisdiction over Australia .

At that point our Nationality changed - but the design of the flag has failed to reflect our new allegiance .

Originally Posted by Lejon

The Flags Act did not change the design - it remained a flag for a British Possession .

Plus - before and after the Flags Act all Australian Citizens remained British subjects and British Nationals .

It was the ' National Flag ' of a British people .

Australians remained British subjects until the Australia Acts 1986 terminated all british jurisdiction over Australia .

At that point our Nationality changed - but the design of the flag has failed to reflect our new allegiance .

and I refer back to my earlier answer...

it NOW OUR FLAG, AND WE LOVE IT!

How can it be ' our flag ' when it implies a false allegiance ?

I dont believe it does,

it acknowledges our history...

it does not try to deny or hide our past

it is OUR FLAG (as in it belongs to us!) and at the risk of repeating myself

WE LOVE IT


There is nothing implied as far as I see it.

If we play that "interpretation' game then the stylised marijuana leaf on Canada's flag is a bad sign, (no offence intended to any Canadians reading I'm trying to make a point and mean no disrespect to your flag),

It is our nations flag, if you dont like it thats one thing but to throw 100 years of history (yes, with some changes) and identity away is a very sad thing.. so every couple of decades now we will change it again?
That will give everyone a reason to show respect to the flag and our history as a nation.?..

Maybe stick with what we have as it is our identity and as said before well known world wide, and concentrate on other things, like maybe trying desperately hard not to become a 3rd world country when we have closed
all our manufacturing and processing and sent it off shore.... we are abiding by "free trade" agreements and holding our end knowing full well those we are trading with are not doing the same, leaving us, and our manufacturers
farmers etc at a very distinct disadvantage and in a no win situation... lets do something about that stuff first!



(PS your turn!)

Originally Posted by Redback

The Irish flag is the tri-colour(Orange white and green) not the St Patricks cross flag, this flag is the flag of Northern Ireland or Ulster as they would like to be known, not Irish.

Baz.

No the flag of the Kingdom of Ireland was the Cross of St Patrick which was subjugated by the English Crown in the sixteenth century. However St Andrew's cross was not included in the first Union Flag (also called the Queen Anne Flag) of 1606, the (second) Union Flag as we know today and which includes the cross of St Patrick did not come into being until 1801.

The Irish Tricolour was also raised over the Post Office in Dublin as a symbol of resistance during the Easter rebellion of 1916 and was adopted in 1919 as the battle flag of Irish republicans flag during the Irish Rebellion eventually becomming the flag of the Irish Free State in 1922. The flag itself can trace it's origins back as far as 1848 when it was donated by a group of French women sympathetic to the cause of Irish nationalism, prior to that Irish independence was represented by a green flag with a harp device.

So while today the cross of St Patrick represents Northern Ireland, prior to 1922 it represented the Kingdom of Ireland and therefore the whole of Ireland.

It definitely doesn't reflect either our identity or our history it reflects a Nationality that no longer exists for australians . That's the point it ignores our recent history - ie our new identity . And no unless we change our Nationality again our new design will never change . The rest of your argument about other ' political ' / economic issues is irrelevant .