Australian Flags booklet

Australian Flags can be used as an educational resource and a source of general information about the history and proper use of the Australian National Flag and other flags of Australia by the Australian community, flag marshals and visitors to Australia.

Part 4 History of the Australian National flag

Evolution of a national flag

Before federation, Australia’s colonies flew the flags of the United Kingdom: the Union Jack (more formally called the Union Flag) and its other flags.

The Union Jack was first raised in Australia on 29 April 1770 by Captain Cook at Stingray Harbour (later renamed Botany Bay). Cook raised it again at Possession Island, off Cape York, when he claimed the east coast of Australia in the name of King George III. Governor Phillip hoisted this flag again on 26 January 1788 at Sydney Cove, marking the first European settlement of Australia.

Growing Australian nationalism in the 1890s inspired the use of many unofficial flags. A common feature was the Southern Cross, a constellation unique to southern skies. Among the better known flags in Australia’s early colonial history are the national colonial flag (1823), the Anti-Transportation League flag (1851), the Murray River flag (1853), the Eureka flag (1854) and the Australian federation flag (1880s-1890s).

From 1870, each Australian colony adopted as its flag a British blue ensign incorporating a different badge to distinguish it from the other colonies.