Posted on September 3, 2017
On this date in 1901, the winner of Australia's Federal Flag Design Competition was announced.
There had already been two flag competitions, run by newspaper publishers.
The first contest required all entries to include two items in the flag design:
(1) The Union Jack, which is the complex combined crossused by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, because Australia used to be six British colonies.
(2) The Southern Cross constellation, five stars that make a rough cross shape. This constellation can be easily seen in the Southern Hemisphere but is not visible from many parts of the Northern Hemisphere, so it kinda sorta represents the southern half of the globe.
The second contest didn't have any particular requirements, but the people running the competition warned that a flag that didn't include both the Union Jack and the Southern Cross probably wouldn't win. (So - kinda sorta required?)
The official flag design contest also didn't require any particular element. So some bold folks included Australia's unique animals on their flag design - and one of them even depicted a bunch of Aussie animals playing cricket! I wish i could find images of these entries - but back in 1901, there was no internet, and I failed to find even a one!
In all, almost 33 THOUSAND entries were submitted.
Guess what? The winner was one of the ones (actually, one of the many) that included the Union Jack and the Southern Cross.
Of course!
The third element in the winning design was a "Commonwealth Star." This represents the ties that the U.K. still has with many of its colonies, including Canada, India, South Africa, and New Zealand as well as Australia. It used to have six points, and now the Commonwealth Star has seven points.
Today is Australia's Flag Day because, not only because the winning design was announced, because the winning design was first flown on September 3, 1901, as well!
Some Australians think that a new design might be better, and there continue to be design contests. Here are a few ideas:
Also on this date:
Plan ahead:
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