These are the flags used "officially" in Australia.







The monotony of it all. All 7 flags (1 national and 6 state) could accurately be described as British blue ensigns, i.e. A blue flag with the Union Jack in canton, and a badge.

Other that South Australia's and Western Australia's flags, I don't see the relevance of the other 4 state flags to their particular state.




That's better. A bit of variety!

Australia also have the territories of Ashmore and Cartier Islands, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Coral Sea Islands, Heard Island and McDonald Islands and the Australian Antartic Territory. However none of these has their own flags, and uses the national flag instead.


Flags of the indigenous people

The Blue Ensign of Australia

Eureka flag

Boxing Kangaroo flag

One day the national flag of Australia will change. I hope that is sooner rather than later. What should it change to? Here is my opinion.

What's wrong with the current flag?
The Union Jack.

Currently the national flag is merely a British blue ensign. This being a blue background with a Union Jack in canton, and a badge. In this case, Australia's flag has 2 badges – the Southern Cross and the Federation Star.

What should the flag be changed to?
When Paul Keating, the then Australian Prime Minister visited his ancestral village in Ireland, the Irish waved Australian flags minus the Union Jack. I felt quite patriotic about this flag. But I think it merely a quick fix and leaves a space in the most important part of this flag, the hoist.

Irish/Keating flag

The hoist is important as this is the part of the flag that shows when the flag is hanging limply on a flagpole, with no breeze to keep it a-flutter. With the Union Jack in this position the Australian flag looks totally indistinguishable* from dozens of other flags when not in full breeze. (*N.B. not "quite similar to", but totally indistinguisable, i.e. it looks exactly the same as other flags.)

Canada
Canada, a former British colony, has one of the most striking and simple flags today. Its design is very clever. It echoes the roots of that nations colonial past: the red and white from the English flag, and the three stripes from the French flag. But it also has the unique maple leaf to represent Canada itself.

England

France

Canada

However Canada had to balance the needs of its English and French populations. Australia does not have 2 major ethnic groups to please. Rather it has the ex-British population (the majority) and everyone else (the minority). Rather than looking backward towards its British roots, the flag of Australia should look forward to the future.

Australia's symbol
The most important part of the Australian flag as it stands is the Southern Cross, and the specific way it is represented on the current flag, i.e. 4 stars of 7 points and 1 star of 5 points. This is uniquely Australian. The Federation Star is also important, but already used within the Southern Cross, and doesn't need to be a separate feature.

The flag should be a simple as possible, and the Southern Cross should be the only charge on the cross. The flag should be called "The Southern Cross". Much in the same way that the USA calls its flag The Stars and Stripes, the UK – The Union Jack and France – Le Tricolor.

What colours should be used?
As I have said the main problem with the current flag is the Union Jack. Take this off and the 2 colours left on the current flag are blue and white.

From 1912 the official national colours of Australia were blue and gold. From 1984 they have been green and gold.

The colours of the current flag are red, white and blue. But only because these are the colours of the Union Jack. I do not think this colour combination should be used in any new design, as these colours were never specifically "Australian".

This leaves a palette of green, gold, blue and white. Or rather a palette of 2 pairs of colours, green & gold, and blue & white.

What are the alternatives?
Ausflag is an organisation that lobbies for the Australian flag to change. They have put forward several suggestions over the years.

Ausflag 1991

Ausflag 1993

Ausflag's 1991 flag is simplistic, but my favourite of theirs. Their 1993 flag (from public competition) is also good. The Southern Cross in the hoist would work well when the flag is not in breeze. The red shape at the bottom of the flag is suggestive of Uluru.

The 1997 flag (also from public competition) may have the Southern Cross, but the rest of the flag is not particularly relevant to Australia, a poor effort.

Ausflag 1997

Ausflag 2000 winner

In 2000 Ausflag announced winners of a "designer's competition", in which the entrants were professionals, rather than the public. The winner is a good rethink of the current flag, and the Federation Star would look good on the hoist. But gold without green is fairly irrelevant.

Ausflag 2000 runner-up

Ausflag 2000 third place

The 2000 runner up introduces the colour combination of yellow and red (possibly mirroring the colours of the Aboriginal flag) and has 2 charges, the Federation Star and a kangaroo, but no Southern Cross. The 3rd place is boring, but quite representative of a large part of Australia's outback.

Many, if not most, of Ausflag's designs have that dreaded combination of red, white and blue – God Bless America, Vive La France, Rule Britannia and all that.

My suggestions
Following all my own rules for the flag (Southern Cross only, green & gold, blue & white, no red) I have come up with the following ideas.

The first suggestion, as you can see, is a re-working of Ausflag's 1993 flag. A green and gold land lying beneath the sky with the Southern Cross in the hoist.

The second suggestion is more dynamic with greater prominence given to green and gold. The third is merely a variation on the second, but with green, gold and blue appearing when the flag is not a-flutter. And with the Southern Cross in more or less the same place it is on the current flag.

The fourth suggestion is a little different, but has more sense of symmetry than the other suggestions and the Southern Cross again appears near the hoist. The fifth just has a hint of green and gold, appearing at the hoist, and a bigger Southern Cross.

How to change the flag
This is the problem. Australia, at the moment is a conservative nation, and seemingly becoming more conservative with each year. Conservative nations, as a rule, do not change their flag.

Ausflag's efforts to change the flag have been rather like the pro-republicans efforts to change the constitution. They are trying a "minimal change" method in the hope that the Australian public won't a) notice or b) mind. Personally I think this is the wrong approach as people either a) get annoyed that someone is trying to change the flag on the sly, or b) don't get enthusiastic enough to care.

Any change should be popularly led. And that's the problem, isn't it. Australians are generally middle-class suburbanites that like their country just like it is, thank you very much. And will resist any change.

Addendum
A few people have commented that my propsed colour combination (green, gold, blue and white) reminds them of Brazil – for these are the colours of the Brazilian flag. However, as I have shown elsewhere in this website, there are few countries in the world that have a unique colour combination in their flag. The current colour combination that Australia uses is the most popular combination for a national flag in the world. There are 39 nations that use red, white and blue. And approxiamtely two thirds of all nations use red in their flag. Whereas green, gold, blue and white are used by only three countries – Brazil, Lesotho and the Solomon Islands (hardly a geographic or political group), and could therefore be used to make a distinctively Australian Flag.

Addendum 2
In early 2016, New Zealand had a vote to change their flag (which if anything, is slightly worse that the Australian one). During this process another new proposal for the Australian Flag emerged in the media. Dubbed the "Southern Horizon" I was very pleased to see this alternative as it matches all the criteria I have been arguing for. And it is a far better proposal than any of the alternative that have been put forward before.

Addendum 3
In 2018, I found the following re-design of the Australian flag, and matching flags for the states and territories, on reddit/r/vexilology. Again, I am pleased to see the national flag matches all the criteria I have been arguing for. This may be conformation bias, but I feel the logic of my arguments for the criteria of the national flag of Australia are sound.

Addendum 4
2018, more re-designs...