THE SUN AND STARS

A new national flag design that includes all Australians

As Australians, we will all soon participate in the process of choosing a new national flag. Our children's children will grow up with this new symbol.

We have an opportunity and a responsibility to make sure this symbol embodies values worth passing on to future generations.

Australia from far above
A sunlit island - continent. Oceans. The Southern Cross
These are the facts
Beyond differences - we are all equally encircled
This is the vision

What it means:

The Sun

Is also a symbolic representation of Australia, the sunlit island-continent as seen from far above - the view from space.

The golden land surrounded by the great seas and oceans, the stars reflected on their waters.

To all people the sun represents the Source, Life, and Light. It means the same to everyone, regardless of race, creed or belief and embraces the whole natural environment.

The sun is at the centre of the Aboriginal flag. Its inclusion in this design links our cultures and is seen as a major expression of reconciliation and unification.

The circle is a symbol of wholeness and equality. Without divisions, everyone is included.

The Stars

The Southern Cross is probably the most popular national icon to the non-indigenous population.

The Southern Cross as a symbol was born of a popular struggle against injustice in one of Australia's first multicultural societies - the Ballarat goldfields.

The stylised arrangement of the southern cross in this design echos the original Eureka flag and is a powerful link to the heritage of the current national flag.

The Blue Field

Represents the seas, sky and space. It also links this design to the current flag and reflects the blue ground of the Torres Strait Islands flag.

Why not green and gold?

The colours blue, gold and silver are today acknowledged as the heraldic colours for Australia. Prior to 1991 they were popular as our national colours, alongside the red, white and blue of the Union Jack. For example, national icons such as the Spirit of Progress, TAA and Ansett carried the blue and gold livery for decades.

The Australian flag has done its job

It was designed following Federation to represent two stakeholders - the British Empire and the Anglo-Celtic Colonials whose adopted mascot for Australia was the Southern Cross.

It gave Australians a sense of independence. Actually, we merely became a branch office of the Empire. The company logo still sits at the place of power on the flag at the top corner next to the flag post.

This type of flag is called an ensign and is traditionally a Naval flag. Perhaps the joke on us has been that our flag has always meant; "Her Majesty's vessel, the good ship Australia."

We no longer live in the "White Australia" that the flag was designed for. We have more than 200 immigrant language groups as well as hundreds of indigenous groups to include when we are to decide on a new national flag. No other country has taken on such a complex challenge.

Popular images such as the kangaroo, the southern cross or a wattle sprig just won't do it, they are not relevant to all Australians. They are like individual tunes. We must try harder this time. We need a symphony.

A true symbol is not a logo or trademark. It must go to the essence of the subject and have deeper layers that enhance its meaning.

Our contribution is the Sun and Stars

How it came about...

We "captured" the symbol in 1970 when we were freezing our way through a dark English winter in a London bed-sit. At such times, many colonials are reduced to tears by a photo of Bondi beach and crave the bright summer blue and golden light of home.

We "saw" Australia as a gold circle, blazing like the sun, being the land and the sun combined. It floated in a vast sea of cobalt blue, studded with the stars of the southern cross.

It was obvious to us that Australia and New Zealand were bright new cultures developing far away from the old world and that the symbol represented something that was powerful and moving.

In 1985 we revived the symbol and adapted it to a flag design for the first Ausflag competition, in which it was awarded third place.

The design has been gradually refined since then and seems to have settled at the positioning and proportions shown below.

"The search for an appropriate symbol"

(Published in the Age, March 1998.)

England had a problem. How to unite three domains: England, Wales and Scotland. Answer- the Union Jack.

Russia had a problem. How to unite two groups: Industrial workers and Peasants.
Answer- The hammer and sickle.

America had a problem. How to unite a bunch of squabbling colonies.
Answer- the Stars and Stripes.

India had a problem, too. How to unite two religious groups at each others throats- Hindus and Moslems.
Answer- Orange and Green linked by the wheel of Dharma.

Were it so easy for us!

We have a thousand ethnic groups, which now form the foundation of a society that must face reality and go forward together in harmony.
Today we are experiencing the process of fragmentation and deep division between racial, religious and economic groups.

Each and every Australian must be able to feel included personally in our national symbol.

It is by no means a simple design problem. Unlike the situation 100 years ago, today we must include reference to our dual heritage; the Indigenous people and the New Settlers.

Never before has a country faced such a difficult challenge in determining a sovereign symbol.

At the time of Federation our society was mainly Anglo-Celtic. All other groups were minorities by comparison. The current National Flag is typical of the first step a colony makes when the time has come to begin separating from Empire. The emblem of the Empire occupies the place of authority: next to the flagpole at the top, and the emblem representing the locals goes elsewhere.
In Australia’s case the popular emblem of the colonists was, and still is, the Southern Cross. The eight pointed star was included to acknowledge the States and Territories.

The Southern Cross as a symbol was born of a struggle against injustice in one of Australia’s first Multicultural societies- the Ballarat goldfields. Alongside the diggers from the British Isles were people from Europe, Asia, the Americas and Africa. This makes it a more appropriate symbol than perhaps ever before in our history.

To say that the Southern Cross figures in Aboriginal mythology, thereby
dismissing the question of dignified inclusion of the indigenous peoples is paternalistic and probably insulting.
Whichever flag design is eventually adopted, and there will be one, must address all these issues.

To make the problem even more difficult to solve, a new national flag will need to fly alongside the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Flags and not convey a sense of division.
The Indigenous people cannot be expected to drop the symbol which has helped so much to take them from being a crushed minority to a people with a growing sense of confidence, self-esteem and dignity.
We only need look at the effect on the Indigenous community a flag has had to see what an appropriate symbol will do for the wider community.

We can find the answer; it will be worth the effort.