First Union
Flag
On 22 August, 1770, the First Union
Jack was raised on Possession
Island by Lt James Cook, RN. In so doing he proclaimed the whole of the
eastern portion of Australia as British territory which eventually helped
facilitate modern settlement of Australia. On 29 April, he had raised this
same flag at Botany Bay. This design, which combined the red cross of St
George (England) with the St Andrews Cross (Scotland), had been used in
Britain since 1606. It is well known in Australia as the Queen Anne Jack.
The cross of St Patrick does not appear on the design because it predates
the union with Ireland, which took place in 1801. It became the first
official flag of Australia until it was replaced by the modern Union
Jack in 1801 which, in turn, was superseded by the Australian
National Flag.
The First Union Flag (1770 - 1801).
Bowman Flag
This complex flag with its swallow-tail fly was designed by John and
Honor Bowman of Richmond NSW in 1806. The shield on the design shows the
rose of England, thistle of Scotland and shamrock of Ireland. It
commemorates the Royal Navy’s victory at the Battle of Trafalgar (21
October 1805) a landmark event for Britain’s Australasian colonies. The
design was hand painted, in oils, on silk made from Honor Bowman’s wedding
dress. The flag is preserved by the Mitchell Library, Sydney, where it is
displayed. The design was an inspiration for Australia’s National Coat of
Arms which features a shield showing the six Australian State Badges
supported by an emu and kangaroo.
National Colonial Flag
This flag was the forerunner of the many Australian flag designs which
featured the Southern Cross and Union Jack in combination. It is the first
recorded attempt to design a distinctive national flag for Australia.
Designed by Captain John Bingle and Captain John Nicholson, both New South
Wales residents, it is inspired by the White Ensign of the Royal Navy, the
protector and defender of Australia from 1788 to 1913. The large red cross
of St George features four white, eight pointed stars representing the
Australian Southern Cross. According to Captain Bingle it was adopted by
the Government of Sir Thomas Brisbane. Today, the National Colonial Flag
has the unique distinction of being the first flag designed specifically
to represent Australia.
The National Colonial Flag for Australia (1823/24 -
1830s).
"Many years ago as far back as 1823 or 1824 I assisted Captain Nicholson
RN, the first Harbour Master of Port Jackson, to plan and recommend to the
Lords of the Admiralty a National Colonial Flag for Australia which met
with their Lordships approval and adopted by the Government of Sir Thomas
Brisbane. Our proposition had the British National St. George's Ensign
adding Four (4) Stars placed in the four quarters of the Cross in the fly
of the Ensign as the emblem of our Hemisphere THE GREAT SOUTHERN CROSS.
The flag has lately been disfigured by adding another star in the centre
of the Cross by some one not comprehending the original intention and
embodying American Nations. Sydney in those days was Australia! and no
other province to represent so that adding more Stars frustrated the
original intention."
Australian
Federation Flag
This flag was illustrated in the NSW Calendar and Post Office Gazette
of the early 1830s on a flag chart signed by Captain John Nicholson,
Harbour Master, Sydney. The design was a development inspired by the
National Colonial Flag for Australia 1823-24. It features a combination
of the Union Jack and the Southern Cross and it became the popular,
though unofficial flag of Australia from 1831 to 1901. It was especially
significant in the 1880/90s when this design became the symbol of the
Federation Movement and was used by identities such as Sir Henry Parkes.
It was known as the Australian Federation Flag and was employed
throughout the Australian colonies along with the slogan, “One People,
One Destiny, One Flag,” to promote the of the federation of the
Australian colonies into the Commonwealth of Australia. The attractive
design is still flown today as an historical flag of significance.
This flag was often referred to as the Australian Ensign. It was the
chief symbol of the political movement, in the 1880s and 1890s, towards
the federation of the six Australian colonies. Groups, such as the
Australian Natives Association and the Australian Federation League,
used this flag to promote national consciousness and the need for
federation; in so doing they made this a very popular design.
The Australian
Federation Flag (1831 - 1901).
Eureka Flag
The standardised Eureka flag seen today is an
enhanced and different design to the 1854 original as the modern version has
blue keylines around each of five equal stars.
This flag was based on earlier designs used in the Australian colonies. It
was used as the battle flag of the Eureka Stockade in 1854. Captain Charles
Ross of Toronto, Canada is said to be the designer of the flag.
Trooper John King retained the original and it was held by his
family for forty years, until it was loaned to the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery
in 1895, where fragments were cut off and given
to visiting dignitaries as souvenirs. In 2001 legal ownership was transferred
to the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery who expect the King family and the gallery
to be acknowledged every time a replica of the Eureka flag is displayed.
The design was lost to the imagination of the general public until after
World War 2, when radicals started weaving political meanings into the Eureka
Stockade incident; in the 1949 movie Eureka Stockade, the stars of the flag featured were
not arrayed on a white cross.
Eureka Stockade
(1949) produced by Ealing Studios and directed
by Harry Watt.
According to
vexillographer John Vaughan:
"It is a myth that the Eureka flag flown at the stockade rebellion in 1854
was the first Southern Cross emblem. The acknowledged designer, Henry Ross
of Toronto, Canada, would have been influenced by the popularity of already
existing starry flags and the 1831 design had its colours reversed to a blue
field and white cross and the Union Jack deleted.
"The Eureka flag was lost to general public imagination until after WW2
when, for mainly political reasons it was re-discovered and promoted as a
‘rebel’ symbol."
Professor Geoffrey Blainey says: "The Irish of course were prominent at
Eureka and the stockade was built on part of the goldfield where the Irish
were present in large numbers and of course Peter Lawler is Irish and the
southern cross is to my mind really an Irish cross rather than being
configuration of the southern cross. [1]
The writings of Raffaello Carboni, who was in Ballarat at the time, author
of the only complete eyewitness description and analysis of the causes of
the attack on the Eureka Stockade, published a year after the event, make it
clear that "amongst the foreigners ... there was no democratic feeling, but
merely a spirit of resistance to the licence fee"; and he also disputes the
accusations "that have branded the miners of Ballarat as disloyal to their
QUEEN" (emphasis as in the original). [2]
The Argus newspaper of 4 December 1854 reported that
the Union Jack was hoisted beneath the Eureka Flag during the ''Battle of
the Eureka Stockade". [3]
Ray Wenban, "The Revolt at Eureka",
Australian Visual Education: Pictorial Social
Studies, Vol. 16, pp. 25.
In later life the Commander in Chief of the Eureka Stockade, Peter Lalor,
took an oath to the Crown and became a parliamentarian; his record shows he
once opposed a bill to introduce full white-male suffrage in the colony of
Victoria. During a speech in the Legislative Council in 1856 he said, "I
would ask these gentlemen what they mean by the term 'democracy'. Do they
mean Chartism or Communism or Republicanism? If so, I never was, I am not
now, nor do I ever intend to be a democrat. But if a democrat means
opposition to a tyrannical press, a tyrannical people, or a tyrannical
government, then I have been, I am still, and will ever remain a democrat."
Peter Lalor in the wig and gown of the
Speaker of the Victorian parliament.
Weston Bate wrote that the role of landowner and company director seemed to
suit him more than that of rebel, and that Peter Lalor "disgraced himself in
democratic eyes by trying to use Chinese as strike-breakers at the Clunes
mine, of which he was a director. He was absolutely ruthless in using low
paid Chinese workers to get rid of Australians seeking better and safer
working conditions. In parliament he supported a repressive land Bill in
1857 which favoured the rich. There were 17,745 Ballarat signatures to a
petition against Lalor's land Bill. Lalor never represented Ballarat again
and in the 1859 election, he stood for South Granville. Withers and others
were puzzled and hurt that the folk hero should prove to be a better fighter
for money and political position than for the people's rights.
American John Joseph fired the first
shot at the Battle of the Eureka Stockade.
John Joseph the Afro-American who was accused of firing the first shot that
killed Captain Wise, was the first brought to trial. Upon being acquitted
he was carried around the streets of Melbourne in a chair in triumph,
according to the Ballarat Star.
Today the Eureka flag is viewed as a symbol of nationality by a tiny
minority of Australians, and is employed by radicals as a general purpose
symbol of protest for a wide variety of anti-establishment non-conformist
causes.
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The actual Eureka flag as
restored in 1973.
Approximately 31% of the
original flag is missing. The dimensions are 260 x 400 cm
(2:3.08 ratio). The horizontal cross is 37 cm wide and the
vertical cross 36 cm wide. The central star is slightly
larger than the others and is 65 cm tall (point to point)
and the other stars 60 cm tall.
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Standardised
Eureka Flag.
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[1] Lateline, "Historians discuss Eureka legend" (5 May
2001) <http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/stories/s290806.htm>
as at 3 September 2011.
[2]
Wikipedia, "Eureka Rebellion"
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eureka_stockade#Debate_over_political_significance>
as at 3 September 2011.
[3] The Argus, "By Express: Fatal collision at Ballarat" (4 December 1854) <http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/4801224>
as at 3 September 2011.
.)
.)