Commemorative
picture:
the
opening
of
the
first
Commonwealth
Parliament
at
Canberra,
on
May
9,
1927,
by
his
Royal
Highness
the
Duke
of
York,
lithograph
printed
by
Offset
Press
Company.
Courtesy
of
the
State
Library
of
New
South
Wales,
Sydney.
Parliament House Puzzle
Dr
Elizabeth Kwan, Historian
Can you see anything
surprising about Septimus
Power's painting?
He captured on
canvas the moment the Duke and
Duchess of York arrived at the
steps of Parliament House to
open the building. The Duke's
flag above the entrance to the
building was ready to be
unfurled when he unlocked the
front door. Large Union flags,
flown to the left of Australian
flags, had precedence. That was
not surprising: after all the
Union flag, known as the Union
Jack, was 'the national flag' in
the same way that God Save the
King was 'the national anthem'.
Australian flags, red and blue
ensigns, gave the national flag
the place of honour: they were
ensigns of the national flag, as
were, for example, Canadian
ensigns.
Power's
painting shows red rather than
blue ensigns on Parliament
House.
The opening of
this first federal Parliament
House, a highly significant
occasion for the Commonwealth of
Australia, could be expected to
feature the blue ensign. That
ensign was for official
purposes, as the flag
competition of 1901 and the
Gazette in 1903 made clear. The
red ensign was for commercial
shipping.
Is Power's painting accurate?
Black and
white photographs of the time do
show that Union flags and
Australian ensigns were used on
Parliament House, but not
whether those ensigns were red
or blue. A coloured pencil
sketch held in the National
Archives of Australia suggests
that the Federal Capital
Commission preparing the
celebrations intended to use
blue ones. But other records in
that Archives show that both red
and blue ensigns were brought to
Canberra to decorate its streets
and buildings. Sydney's Mitchell
Library has a lithograph by an
unknown artist which marks the
1927 opening: it features blue
ensigns. Perhaps Power was using
artistic licence, a practice not
unknown in commissioned
paintings recording historical
events. He was known for his
ability to create dramatic
effect in his paintings. His red
ensigns certainly highlight the
St George crosses in the Union
Jacks and the carpet leading
from the Duke's carriage to the
front door. Would blue ensigns
have been visually as effective?
Perhaps Power
was using the red ensign as the
people's flag, since that was
the flag Australians were
expected to use if they wanted
to fly an Australian flag. The
two ensigns of 1903 were
essentially shipping flags. As
they came to be used on land,
there was confusion about who
could use them. The custom that
only the Commonwealth government
could use the blue ensign held
sway until the mid 1920s when
all public buildings – except
public schools – could use that
ensign. Private businesses and
individuals had to use the red
ensign. Not until World War II
were Australians allowed, even
encouraged to use the blue
ensign. But the confusion over
the two ensigns was not resolved
by the federal government until
its decision in December 1950 to
make the blue ensign the
Australian national flag, which
the Flags Act 1953 confirmed.
The red ensign
is still with us today as a
commercial shipping flag.
Despite the government's attempt
in 1980 to make the blue ensign
Australia's national flag for
all purposes, it found that it
could not ignore merchant
mariners' attachment to the 'Red
Duster'.
