President Allan Pidgeon recently recorded a Podcast about our flag with the Robert Menzies Institute, which can be found at:
https://www.robertmenziesinstitute.org.au/afternoon-light-podcast/allan-pidgeon
Were you aware that Australia was the first country in the world to hold an open competition to design its national flag? Or that the seventh point was added to the flag’s Federation Star when Australia acquired the territory of Papua, an integral part of modern-day PNG? Ahead of Australian National Flag Day on 3 September – an annual commemoration marking the anniversary of the date in 1901 on which the Australian flag was first flown – you can hear the untold story of our key national symbol.
Want to know more about Australian National Flag Day? Check out the Commonwealth Government’s official webpage
Want to learn more? Read our On This Day Post on the 1953 Flags Act
Want further resources? Visit the Australian National Flag Association
Celebrations for our flag's 122nd 'birthday' were held around Australia, with a special event in the Great Hall in Parliament House in Canberra hosted by the Hon Milton Dick MP, Speaker of the House of Representatives (see items on the Parliament House Canberra Facebook page and the
@ parliamenthousecanberra Instagram account).
To read the 'Flag Day' messages from the Governor-General, Premier, and
other community leaders, go to www.flagdayaustralia.com.au
and click on "Messages".
As our former
Governor-General Dame Quentin Bryce has observed, “Since … 1901, our
Australian flag has been an icon of our shared identity, of what it means to
belong to our country.... Wherever it is raised, it stirs in us a sense of
unity...”
I commend the
Australian National Flag Association for its work in encouraging
people to identify with our foremost national symbol…”
His Excellency General the
Honourable David John Hurley AC DSC (Retd), Governor-General of the
Commonwealth of Australia
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