The Social Centre - by ChrisB

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Flag Worship, and why the Australian Flag now has meaning

Meaning?

Waving the Australian flag about on the Australia Day long weekend this year was performed with extra meaning following the whole Big Day Out debacle.

If it wasn’t for a poorly considered idea to force Big Day Out revellers to leave their flags at home, and the controversy that ensued, draping yourself in the Aussie flag would have still carried that sense of meaninglessness that has plagued the official flag of Australia since it was first hoisted up a Government flagpole in 1901.

Flags to many countries are symbols of freedom, independence and unity in struggle. Countries who have endeared hardships of oppression, colonialism, civil war or other such struggles have an inherent sense of value added to their adopted flag.

For instance, the flags of Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela are similar in colour and design because they represent a common cause. The yellow represents the land and its resources, the blue represents the sea and the red represents the blood shed in defiance of Spanish rule.

Kenya’s flag is based upon the flag of the Kenya National Union, which spearheaded the anti-colonial struggle against Britain. The coloured bands represent black majority, bloodshed and natural wealth. Upon achieving independence in 1963 thin white stripes were added to symbolise peace. The shield is that of a Masai warrior and represents the defence of freedom.

And of course, the American flag, the beloved ‘Stars and Stripes’, represents the 13 original colonies that rebelled during the War of Independence in 1777, and the 50 states that now make up the nation. The official colours are called Old Glory Blue, and Old Glory Red.

So to the Australian flag. In 1900 The Evening Standard held a competition in which entrants were to design Australia’s flag, and were to include the Union Jack, and the Southern Cross. The government then picked up this idea and offered a £75 prize, which was eventually shared amongst five separate entrants who submitted very similar designs.

So, while other nations fly flags that were designed in order to portray independence, unity and strength – Australia flies a flag that was designed by a random citizen keen to make a buck or two.

There have been several debates over Australia’s official flag of course. Should we keep this design that represents lazy leadership, or should we adopt another design? There’s the Aboriginal flag, which has some meaningful symbolism behind it, or there’s the Eureka Stockade flag…it was flown in opposition to oppression. We even have a boxing kangaroo flag which at least has our national colours of green and gold.

This year as I proudly wore my Australian flag around my neck, and put stick-on tattoos of the flag all over me, I found myself with a new sense of respect for the flag. The fact that at some point, somewhere, in some small capacity, there were attempts to suppress the Australian flag made me want to wave it more.

So from the oppression comes new meaning. The Union Jack represents defeat of the oppressive Big Day Out organisers. The Southern Cross represents to unity under the stars as we listened to Muse. The Commonwealth Star represents the media, which beat up the story to the point where not caring about the flag was more ‘Un-Australian’ than actually not being a citizen, and the blue background represents the beer that was spilt fighting for the flags’ independence.

Now, every single Australian citizen can salute to the now meaningful flag, proud in the knowledge that we finally had a reason to fight under the flag, because in Australia, any excuse will do.

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January 29th 2007 @ 02:41

Posted By: ChrisB - Category: No Category

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1. January 29th 2007 @ 05:29. katyzzz Says:

Chris,

I love the Australian flag. Big flag fan. My father fought for it, aged 15, when war was tough.

I can't be bothered with all the silly debates, but you've put a lot of thought into your post so that is to be commended.

katyzzz