The Flag of Australia
Flag of Australia
The Australian flag is a design of striking stars and crosses. The flag of Australia is treated with dignity and it represents all Australian citizens equally, whatever their background, race, colour, religion or age. The flag of Australia is a reminder of the offerings of past and present generations of the inheritance that will be passed to future generations. The national Flag of Australia has three crosses, acknowledges the principles and ideals graceful from the British heritage of European settlers involving parliamentary democracy, the rule of law that assure freedom of speech and the rights and responsibilities of citizens. The constellation of the Southern Cross indicates geographical location in the southern hemisphere.
History of Australia Flag
The Australian flag has a large white seven pointed star (the star of federation) under the middle of the Union Jack. Australia’s national flag was original designed with a six-pointed Commonwealth Star and was approved in 1901 from entries in a competition held following Federation. On 3 September 1901, the flag was flown for the first time in Melbourne and since then it was announced as Australian National Flag Day. The original design was comparable to the recent flag, excluding the Federation Star, contained only 6 points and the Southern Cross depicted stars ranging from 5 to 9 points. This indicated their comparative apparent brightness in the night sky.
In addition, the field was red for Civil, blue ensign reserved and other for Government use. The implementation of the winning flag enterprise was never discussed in the Australian Parliament – it was sent to the Regal Authorities in England to be accepted. It wasn′t until late 1902 that King Edward VII correctly notified the Australian Government of the consent, and this sanction was finally Gazetted on 20 February 1903. In 1911, when the Northern Territory and ACT were shaped as Federal Territories, the number of points on the Federation Star was decreased to seven. The red ensign endured the Civil flag and the blue ensign the Government flag.
Credit to www.flagsworld.org for the above text.