"Fear God, Honour the Queen, Remember 1915!" "Re-Christianise, Re-Monarchise, Re-Militarise!"[3]
The Australian Flag Society (AFS) is an advocacy group which opposes changing the existing flag of Australia and seeks its constitutional recognition.[4][5]
Under the AFS constitution (adopted 25 October 2008),[11] the National Convenor may admit voting rights members and appoint from among their number officers of the Executive Council. In addition, members of the general public became able to subscribe to the AFS as supporters free of charge.[5]
On 18 September 2001, during the centenary of federation, the federal member for Hinkler, Paul Neville, would request of the speaker that:
"before it [the flag] becomes too faded or too tattered, [it] be taken down and perhaps offered to a museum or an art gallery as the seminal flag that flew over this building 100 years from the time the first flag was flown?"[12]
The parliament house centenary flag was subsequently entrusted to the AFS and has been paraded at schools to mark Australian National Flag Day on a tour of the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales and Queensland.[13][14][15][16][17][18][19]
Civics education
The AFS has proposed that 22 August be proclaimed as "Captain Cook Day" to commemorate the date explorer James Cook declared the British claim to Australia.[20]
Under the proposed legislative and constitutional refinements, it is envisaged that the Flags Act would remain on the statute books to provide the construction sheet for the Australian National Flag, which would be described in terms of its essential elements in the constitution, thereby settling the question of popular sovereignty in relation to the process for reviewing the design - in whole or in part - with a weighty body of legal opinion against the constitutionality of the current statutory rules in subsections 3(2) & (3),[24][25] which provide for an instant-runoff for choosing between the existing flag and one or more alternatives, on the basis of universal suffrage. As the device occupying the lower hoist is simply referred to as a "large white Commonwealth Star", the number of points on what is a well-recognised heraldic symbol in its own right[26] could be varied by ordinary legislation, according to changes in membership of the Australian Federation, and not by a plebiscite as currently required, which would remove what has been criticised as an "anomalous and costly" impediment.[27]
The Australian flag as raised at Lingkas beach, Tarakan on 1 May 1945, was subsequently discovered in 2018 by the AFS in Ipswich, Queensland.Fall back with the Eureka Jack by Carlos Barrios, 2014.
In 2013 the AFS announced a worldwide quest and $10,000 reward for information leading to the discovery of the Union Jack which was reportedly hoisted as a second flag at the battle of the Eureka Stockade.[35]
An Australian flag belonging to the 2nd/23rd battalion and flown at Lingkas beach, during the battle of Tarakan was discovered after being featured on the promotional logo for the society's proposed Annual Pause for the National Salute. The frayed specimen contains the inscriptions "2nd/23rd"; "26th Brig"; "Tarakan"; "Oboe" and "May 1945" made using a substance "believed to be human blood".[36][37][38][39]
In 2024, it was reported in the Corryong Courier that the AFS had discovered an Australian red ensign bearing the words "Changi '41 '42" and "Chitty flag", which may have flown over the Changi AFL game where prisoner of warPeter Chitty won the "Changi brownlow medal" that is on display at the Australian War Memorial. Also found were a leather football and whistle with the inscription "Changi Football League", along with a basketball bearing the words "Changi Basketball League".[40]
National salute
The AFS has proposed that all schools in Australia pause to recite the words of the national salute as part of the annual Australian National Flag Day commemorations. The national salute was part of Australian school tradition until falling into disuse from the late 1950s.[41] The version used by the AFS reads as follows:
"I fear God, I love my country, I honour her Queen, I salute her flag, I promise to always obey her laws."[42]
Publications
Flag Breaking News is an occasional news bulletin published by the Australian Flag Society.[43][44]
↑ According to the ACT Department of Justice and Community Safety, Office of Regulatory Services, the Australian Flag Society's incorporation ceased on 15 April 2005
↑ "History of Aussie flag to be given to schools", Canberra Sunday Times, 11 August 2002
Republicanism in Australia is a movement to change Australia's system of government from a constitutional monarchy to a republic; presumably, a form of parliamentary republic that would replace the monarch of Australia with a non-royal Australian head of state. It is opposed to monarchism in Australia. Republicanism was first espoused in Australia before Federation in 1901. After a period of decline following Federation, the movement again became prominent at the end of the 20th century after successive legal and socio-cultural changes loosened Australia's ties with the United Kingdom.
Paul Christopher Neville was an Australian politician who was a National Party member of the Australian House of Representatives from March 1993 to August 2013, representing the Division of Hinkler, Queensland. After the Queensland chapters of the Nationals and Liberals merged in 2008 as the Liberal National Party of Queensland, Neville continued to sit with the Nationals in Parliament.
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The national flag of Australia is based on the British Blue Ensign—a blue field with the Union Jack in the upper hoist quarter—augmented with a large white seven-pointed star and a representation of the Southern Cross constellation, made up of five white stars. Australia also has a number of other official flags representing its people and government bodies.
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Thomas Walter Mitchell was an Australian politician, author and sportsman.
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The Australian flag debate is a question over whether the Australian flag should be changed, particularly to remove the Union Jack from the canton, but also to possibly introduce a completely new design without the Southern Cross.
Leslie Allan "Peter" Chitty BEM was an Australian rules footballer who played for St Kilda in the Victorian Football League (VFL). He was a prisoner of war held at Changi prison during the Second World War. Chitty won the only "Changi Brownlow" medal to be awarded as part of the Changi Australian rules football competition. In 2024, it was reported in the Corryong Courier that an Australian red ensign bearing the words "Changi '41 '42" and "Chitty flag" had been discovered, which may have flown over the game where Chitty was awarded the Changi Brownlow.
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Eureka Centre Ballarat is an interpretive centre in the Eureka Stockade Memorial Park. It features a small permanent exhibition on the Eureka Rebellion and houses the Eureka Flag, which has been on loan from the Art Gallery of Ballarat since 2013. It also hosts lectures and a café, Lilly’s at Eureka.
The historical flags of the British Empire and the overseas territories refers to the various flags that were used across the various Dominions, Crown colonies, protectorates, and territories which made up the British Empire and overseas territories. Early flags that were used across the Empire tended to be variations of the Red and Blue Ensigns of Great Britain with no colonial badges or coat of arms attached to them. In the first half of the 19th century, the first colonies started to acquire their own colony badges, but it was not until the UK Parliament passed the Colonial Naval Defence Act 1865 that the colonies were required to apply their own emblems.
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The following bibliography includes notable sources concerning the Eureka Rebellion. This article is currently being expanded and revised.
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