Australian Red Ensign There was considerable confusion in the first half of the 20th century over the appropriate use of the red ensign as opposed to the blue ensign. This was clarified with the passage of the Flags Act 1953 which proclaimed the blue ensign as the Australian National Flag.
The national colours, green and gold, hold a treasured place in the Australian imagination.
The Menzies government introduced the Flags Act to encourage the public to use the Blue Ensign instead of the Union Jack and the Red Ensign, with the latter only to be used on merchant ships.
Australia has a national flag but also recognises other flags, including state and territory flags, the Aboriginal flag, the Torres Strait Islander flag, Defence Force Ensigns and the Australian Red Ensign (flown at sea by Australian registered merchant ships).
Australian Aboriginal Flag
The top half of the flag is black to symbolise Indigenous people.
There are three official flags in Australia. The 3 flags of Australia include the Australian National Flag, the Australian Aboriginal Flag and the Torres Strait Islander Flag.
The Australian Red Ensign is an official flag of Australia and is proclaimed under the Flags Act 1953. The Australian Red Ensign is generally only flown at sea by Australian registered merchant ships or on land by organisations and individuals for ceremonial purposes such as Merchant Navy Day.
For the previous five decades, it was often used interchangeably with the red naval ensign or the Union Flag of Britain. With the Act, the blue version became the Australian national flag, and the red version used only for maritime use.
The Australian National Flag Association (ANFA) believes that the existing design is an integral part of the Australian heritage and an appropriate expression of our national identity. The existing design of stars and crosses should therefore be retained and not altered in any manner whatsoever.
Australia is known for many things, including swathes of tropical beaches, marine reserves, Aboriginal culture, cute koalas, rolling wine country, and lush rainforests.
American English uses 'or' in words like 'color', 'favor' and 'labor'. Australian English uses 'our', as in 'colour', 'favour' and 'labour'.
Teal independents, simply known as teals and also called community independents, are a loosely-aligned group of independent and minor party politicians in Australian politics.
The Australian Government's policy in relation to the flying of other nations' flags is to fly only the official flags of nations recognised by Australia.
Australia's flag will never change, Malcolm Turnbull has said, dismissing a new design that drops the Union Jack. The not-for-profit group Ausflag released a new design on Friday, telling Australia it was time to “grow up” and shed symbols of British dominance.
The Australian National Flag, the Australian Aboriginal Flag and the Torres Strait Islander Flag can be obtained free of charge by contacting the electorate office of your local Senator or Member of the House of Representatives.
In England and Australia, you'll often hear Happy Christmas, but in the US and Canada, Merry is the star of the show.
During the war, Australians fought under the British Union Flag and both the Australian Blue and Red Ensigns. The Blue Ensign was intended for official and Royal Australian Navy purposes, while the Red Ensign was the official flag for Australian registered merchant ships.
The national flag most similar to and likely to be confused with that of Australia is the New Zealand flag, introduced for restricted use in 1869 and adopted as the New Zealand national flag in 1902.
The Royal Australian Navy ensign
The white ensign of the British Royal Navy had been used since 1911, when the Royal Australian Navy was formed. The Australian white ensign is usually flown from the stern of a navy vessel, while the Australian National Flag is flown from the bow of the vessel.
The Commonwealth Star, symbolising Australia's federal system of government, appears on the Australian National Flag below the Union Jack. This star has 7 points which symbolise the 6 Australian states, with the seventh point added in 1908 to recognise Australia's territories.
The Australian White Ensign is identical in design to the Australian National Flag, but with the reversal of the blue background and the white Commonwealth Star and Southern Cross.
The Australian National Flag should always be flown on the far left of a person facing the building. With the exception of a flagpole fitted with a gaff, a house flag or club pennant should never be flown above a national flag.
The only UN-recognized nation whose present-day flag officially contains a unique image on each side is Paraguay. Not all impression of two-sided flags are de facto two-sided because of practical manufacturing constraints or, judging from how often it was disregarded in practice, some formal concern of heraldic nature.
Why are the flags so similar? When Capt. James Cook landed in Australia and (against orders of the Crown) declared the land a British colony, Australia and New Zealand shared a flag based on the blue ensign — a flag used by the British Navy.
18 Its key provisions read as follows: (1) It is an offence for a person, without reasonable excuse, to wilfully damage or destroy in any manner, burn or deface, defile, mutilate or trample upon or otherwise desecrate: (a) the Australian National Flag; or (b) any other flag proclaimed by the Governor-General in ...