Flag Timeline
1901 - 1919 |
1901 29 April - Australia’s First Prime Minister, Edmund Barton
announces the details of the Commonwealth Government’s unique
competition for the design of a "federal" Australian flag (Commonwealth
of Australia Gazette No 27). 32,823 entries are subsequently received.
1901 3 September (now Australian National Flag Day) - Prime
Minister Barton announced the winning design of the government’s flag
competition at a public ceremony. Australia’s new flag of "Stars and
Crosses" is raised for the first time at approximately 2.30 pm.
Featuring the Southern Cross, Union Jack and Commonwealth Star on a dark
blue field the large flag about 11 metres long, flutters magnificently
from the mast on the main dome of the Royal Exhibition Buildings,
Melbourne - the site of the first Federal Parliament.
1901 16 September - First Vice Regal (and formal) raising of the Australian Flag by Governor-General, Lord Hopetoun at Townsville, Queensland.
1902 February - The Australian flag covers the grave of "Breaker" Morant, Pretoria, South Africa.
1903 20 February - King Edward VII approves the design for the
official Australian flag (blue background) and the Australian Red Ensign
for Australia’s merchant ships and private pleasure craft (Commonwealth
Government Gazette No 6). The points on the stars of the Southern Cross
are adjusted from 9, 8, 7, 6 & 5 to a simpler pattern of four stars
of 7 points and one of 5.
1904 1 July to 23 November - Australian flag flies at Olympic Games, St Louis USA, where the Australian team consists of one competitor.
1908 19 December - A 7th point is added to the Commonwealth Star to
represent all Australia’s federal territories collectively.
(Commonwealth Government Gazette No 65). There has been no alternation
to our flag since this amendment.
1908 27 April to 31 October - The Australian flag is raised at the
London Olympic Games in celebration of the first medal win for Australia
which was for Rugby football. Our flag has been the host flag for the
Olympic Games on two great occasions, at Melbourne in 1956 and Sydney in
2000.
1908 Australian Army Military Order, No 58/08, directs all military establishments (Stations) to fly the blue Australian flag.
1911 The formation of the Royal Australian Navy is marked by the
adoption of the Australian flag as the ensign to be "worn" (flown) from
the jackstaff at the bow of all RAN commissioned ships and also at the
mainmast as the "battle flag" when a ship is in combat.
1912 Christmas Day - Frank Wild, a member of the Sir Douglas
Mawson Australasian Antarctic Expedition 1911-14, hoists the Australian
flag and formally takes possession of Queen Mary Land (now part of
Australian Antarctic Territory) in the name of King George V and the
Australian Commonwealth.
1914 6 August - The first use of the Australian flag in an act
of war occurs when it flies over the army fort at Queenscliff, Victoria
which opens fire to prevent the German steamer, Pfalz, from leaving
port.
1914 9 November - HMAS Sydney displays a large Australian flag
as a "battle" ensign during her celebrated victory over the German
warship, SMS Emden. The success of HMAS Sydney is an international news
event and establishes the fighting reputation of the Royal Australian
Navy.
1917 20 September - Australian forces are victorious at the
Battle of Polygon Wood, Belgium, during WWI. Lt A.V.L. Hull, who is
later killed in action, plants the Australian flag on an enemy pillbox
(machine gun post). The scene is subsequently depicted on a popular
postcard which is sold to raise funds for wounded soldiers.
1918 8 August - General Sir John Monash advises the
Governor-General that his troops in France have broken through the
German lines and have raised the Australian flag after liberating
Harbonnieres.
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1920 - 1939 |
1928 Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith carries three Australian flags
in his aircraft, the Southern Cross, on the first flight to cross the
Tasman Sea to New Zealand. These flags were subsequently presented to
Sydney Hospital.
1934 23 March - Commonwealth Government Gazette No 18 features a line
drawing of the exact specifications of the official blue Australian flag
and the merchant shipping flag, the Australian Red Ensign.
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1940 - 1959 |
1940 19 July - The second HMAS Sydney, with the Australian flag
flying as "battle" ensign, defeats the Italian navy’s cruiser,
Bartolomeo Colleoni.
1941 15 March - Prime Minister Robert Menzies issues a press
statement encouraging the public to fly the blue Australian flag on land
and the Australian Red Ensign at sea.
1942 19 February - The Australian flag that flies outside the
residence of the Administrator of the Northern Territory is riddled with
bullet holes during a Japanese air raid. It is the first flag to come
under enemy attack on Australian soil. The same flag is used in Darwin
for a peace ceremony in 1946. It is flanked on one side by the
Australian flag which flew at Villiers-Bretonneux in 1917 and on the
other by the Australian flag flown by the HMAS Sydney when it destroyed
the Italian cruiser Bartolomeo Colleoni in the Mediterranean in 1940.
This precious flag from Darwin is now on permanent display at the
Australian War Memorial.
1942 Australia’s flag is raised as the allies retake Kokoda, New Guinea.
1943 25 November - Sgt Tom Derrick raises the Australian flag on
a shell torn tree at Mount Sattelberg, New Guinea, after having
destroyed ten enemy machine-gun posts. His incredible feat earns him the
ultimate award for valour, the Victoria Cross.
1945 The first flag to fly over the liberated Singapore is an
Australian flag secretly made in a prisoner of war camp. Another
Australian flag raised at the liberation of Singapore is now framed and
held at the headquarters of the Returned and Services League, Canberra
with a plaque which reads "This important artefact was concealed in
Changi Prison by Captain Strawbridge MBE, from 1942-1945. It was raised
over the gates of the prison, the day of formal liberation in September
1945."
A number of Australian flags were secretly made of scavenged pieces of
cloth by Australian prisoners of war in various enemy camps. Some of
these precious flags are now lodged in the Australian War Memorial.
1947 24 February - Prime Minister Ben Chifley issues a statement encouraging more general and widespread use of the national flag.
1951 The Commonwealth Government introduces the presentation of
the Australian flag to all public schools. This has become a tradition.
1953 2 December - Parliament passes 1953 Flags Act. The flag is
confirmed by legislation as the chief national symbol by law, custom and
tradition and its official title becomes the "Australian National
Flag".
1954 14 February - Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II personally
gives her assent by signing the Australian Flags Act (Amended) No 1 of
1954. (Click on)
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1960 - 1979 |
1963 Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies authorises the flying of
the Australian National Flag by night (under illumination) and day over
the capital city, Canberra. The flying of illuminated national flags at
night time is now an international practice.
1967 1 March - Introduction of the Australian White Ensign as
the distinguishing flag for the Royal Australian Navy. It is to be
"worn" (flown) in conjunction with the Australian National Flag which
was adopted by the Navy when it was formed in 1911.
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1980 - 1999 |
1981 24 March - Flags Amendment Act 1981 describes Australian
National Flag as a blue flag consisting of the Southern Cross,
Commonwealth Star and Union Jack - our unique flag of "Stars and
Crosses".
1987 3 October - Five hundred Australian National Flags are
paraded in Sydney’s "Welcome Home" march for Australia’s Vietnam War
veterans. The flags commemorate the Australian service personnel who
lost their lives as a result of the conflict.
1996 28 August - The Governor-General of the Commonwealth of
Australia, Sir William Deane, proclaims 3 September as "Australian
National Flag Day" to commemorate the day in 1901 on which the
Australian National Flag was first flown.
Please click here to view the proclamation.
1998 24 March - Flag Amendments Bill amends the Flags Act 1953
to ensure that the Australian National Flag can only be changed if the
Australian electorate approves. The effect of this amendment is to
confirm that the ownership and control of the Australian National Flag
is indeed in the hands of the Australian people who it represents.
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2000 - 2019 |
2000 11 April - Mr Alec Campbell, the last Gallipoli veteran,
presents his own Australian National Flag to the Nation. His flag will
be flown every year at the ANZAC Day ceremony, ANZAC Cove, Gallipoli
(Turkey), on 25 April.
2001 3 September - The centenary of the Australian National Flag
is marked by ceremonies across Australia. Prime Minister John Howard
delivers a speech at the Royal Exhibition Buildings, Melbourne where a
re-enactment of the first raising of the Australian National Flag is
held. Governor-General, Peter Hollingworth, conducts a flag raising
ceremony at Government House, Canberra to mark the occasion.
2001 20 September - Governor-General, Peter Hollingworth,
proclaims the Centenary Flag Warrant. The Centenary Flag is the flag
presented on 3 September 2001 to the Prime Minister by the Australian
National Flag Association at the flag centenary celebration - Royal
Exhibition Buildings, Melbourne. It is a fully sewn, satin, Australian
flag, inscribed with a special flag centenary message. This flag of
"Stars and Crosses" features the crimson thread of kinship, which
symbolically links past and current generations to future generations of
Australians. It will be used for future important national events.
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