Star-Only Designs |
Eureka Flag (1854) |
The Eureka flag is a striking and beautiful design.
Though it only features the Southern Cross, I am sure many people
will overlook this due to the history associated with the flag.
Unfortunately, in modern times it has been used both by the extreme
left (the BLF) and the extreme right (anti-immigration groups).
Perhaps this is because the "cross-bars" indicated solidarity.
Somehow, I think this image of solidarity also carries an idea
of us-against-them. Beautiful though it is,
I don't think this is the best image for an Australian flag to present.
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Ausflag's 1991 campaign featured a simple Southern Cross.
The design also had the alternative colours of green and gold,
with the slogan "now we have designed the new flag all we need to do is decide upon the colours."
Clear and simple: but a little too simple.
I think our flag should contain more than the Southern Cross alone.
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AusFlag's 1991 Campaign |
AusFlag's 1998 Competition, Judges' 1st Choice |
North Sullivan's submission to the Sydney Morning Herald (2006) |
Some designs have included the Federation Star as well as the Southern Cross.
Again, the designs are simple and striking.
But again, I believe our flag needs more than
the Federation Star and the Southern Cross.
Rather than just removing the Union Jack,
I believe we should replace it with something else.
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Flags with Aboriginal Symbols or Colours |
Australian Flag with Aboriginal Flag |
Ausflag's 1998 competition, Voters' 2nd choice |
Replacing the Union Jack with the Aboriginal Flag is often suggested,
but then instead of a flag with a British part
we get a flag with an exclusively aboriginal part.
It replaces one mistake with another.
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Brendan Jones' two designs divide the flags into the aboriginal
colours (red, yellow and white) and motifs
with traditional colours (red, white and blue) and motif (the Southern Cross),
with the two meeting in the common colour, red.
This still suffers the same problem: a flag that is half aboriginal
and half Australian,
rather than a flag which is 100% for all Australians.
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Brendan Jones' Reconciliation Flag, 1995 |
Brendan Jones' 2nd Design, 1997 |
Ross Carter: A New Australian Flag (2000) |
I'm not a big fan of using a boomerang either, again because it's an aboriginal
symbol. Nevertheless, as boomerang-themed flags go,
I quite like Ross Carter's.
Better than the current flag? Certainly.
The best we can do? I believe not.
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Kangaroo-based Designs |
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When I see a kangaroo-based design I think of Qantas, not Australia.
Compare these two designs with the Qantas kangaroo and you'll see what I mean.
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Yahoo Serious, 1997 |
Ausflag's 1998 competition, Voters' 1st choice |
The Qantas kangaroo
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Land plus The Southern Cross |
Ausflag's 1986 competition, 1st place |
Ausflag's 1993 competition, 1st place |
Ausflag's 1993 competition, 2nd place |
Ausflag's 1998 competition, Judges' 3rd choice |
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Now we're getting somewhere. The land plus the Southern Cross has given some strikingly
simple designs, such as those above, which have done consistently well
in Ausflag's competitions.
Still, it's a pity to remove the Federation Star.
Can't we take the process one step further and
keep both the Southern Cross and the Federation Star,
with the land taking the place of the Union Jack?
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Land, Southern Cross and the Federation Star |
Ausflag's 1998 competition, Entrant #20 |
Ausflag's 1998 competition, Entrant #37 |
When I first designed my alternative flag,
I thought there was no other existing design which combined
the motifs of the Southern Cross, the Federation Star, and The Land.
I have since found some, such as the two to the left.
But while preserving the Southern Cross and the Federation Star,
each of these flags has changed the "look" of the stars,
giving something strangely different to the familiar
design of our current flag.
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Ausflag 1993 #37, modified by Peter Ballard (2006) |
Design #37 can however be modified, to keep the look
of the existing Federation Star and Southern Cross,
as shown in my design here.
The "Terra Cotta" colour is taken from the
Ausflag 1998 3rd placed design
(Southern Cross over the land), above.
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While these are good designs, I believe there are three reasons
why the Uluru motif works even better:
- Uluru is a powerful aboriginal and national symbol.
- Aesthetically, a symbol which only takes up half the width of
the flag (not the entire width, as the land does in the designs above), works well:
The Southern Cross almost entirely fills one side,
while the single Federation Star has a gap under (or over) it,
which Uluru fills well.
- Using Uluru also allows us to keep the stars in the exact
configuration of the existing flag (except the Federation star is moved up),
allowing a strong continuity to
the existing flag.
(Though my alternative design above shows how we don't need
Uluru to satisfy this third benefit).
Giving my proposed new flag:
the Southern Cross, with the Federation Star over Uluru.
One United Southern Land.
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One United Southern Land (Peter Ballard, 2006)
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