^{This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website}

Australian Capital Territory (Australia)

from Christian Brothers College

Australian Capital Territory flag
Flag change proposals
Former Canberra flag

See also:

Australian Capital Territory flag

This passage is from Carol A. Foley's The Australian Flag [fol96]:

"The ACT did not have an official flag prior to the adoption of its new flag by the ACT Legislative Assembly on 25 March 1993. The reason for its long 'flaglessness' is simple: it was thought by a number of successive Commonwealth Governments that the ACT should represent all Australia and that the adoption of a specific territorial flag might necessarily detract from its federal representativeness. However, the lack of an identifying flag caused a number of problems. For example, the people of the ACT were singular in not having a unifying official community symbol and this also meant that their sporting teams were not readily identifiable. It was also thought that a flag would give the community as a whole a higher profile.

The ACT achieved self-government only relatively recently, pursuant to the Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government) Act 1988 (Cth). This event undoubtedly enhanced official recognition of the ACT's 'personal identity' and paved the way for the adoption of its own particular territorial flag.

Competitions for a new flag were held in 1988 and 1992 and a large number of submissions were received. No consensus was reached within the community regarding any particular design; however, there were some common features among the entries. These elements were incorporated into four base designs, which were informally chosen by members of the Legislative Council, and thereafter presented to the ACT community in February and March 1993.

The residents of the ACT were then invited to take part in the selection process of the new flag by informal, non-mandatory vote. Residents were asked to register their choice, by mail or phone, of one of the four base designs. Option A was a dark blue flag with a golden Southern Cross set in the hoist. Option B was a stylised green and gold representation of the Canberra Hills with a Southern Cross in the upper hoist set on a dark blue sky. Option C was almost identical to Option B except that it also had a stylised royal bluebell (the ACT's official floral emblem since 1982) in the upper fly. Option D was the most popular choice and the flag that was ultimately adopted. The design of the new ACT flag was drawn by Mr Ivo Ostyn and was clearly inspired by the Northern Territory flag. The field is bicoloured, dark blue and deep golden yellow (the ACT's official sporting colours since 1985) at a ratio of 1:2. The smaller hoist panel is dark blue and carries a large white Southern Cross in constellation format; the four larger stars are seven-pointed and Epsilon is five-pointed. The Southern Cross is representative of membership of the Australian federation.

The larger golden panel in the fly is emblazoned with a simplified version of the City of Canberra's Coat of Arms in the centre. The Coat of Arms is protected by the City of canberra Coat of Arms Act 1932 (Cth). The COA is a complex device and depicts a shield flanked by two swans, one dark blue and one white. The dark blue swan symbolises Australia in its native state and the white swan symbolises the introduction of the white English race. The shield itself carries five main designs: a triple-towered castle, which symbolises traditional dignity and the importnace of the city; the sword of justice, which symbolises the executive power of the Commonwealth Government; the Parliamentary mace, which symbolises the law-making power of the commonwealthParliament; the Imperial Crown, which stands for the sovereign authority of the Commonwealth; and finally the Rose of York, which commemorates the part played by the Duke of York in the establishment of the Seat of Government at Canberra.

The new flag is unfortunatley not an entirely happy choice. The selection procedure by which the final four designs were chosen has been criticised by many ACT residents and the new flag itself has been described as the 'best of a bad bunch'. These criticisms are something for us to bear in mind when taking any future action regarding a new national flag, as they tend to confirm the concerns raised earlier in this chapter about the difficulties attendant on selecting a suitable design."

David Cohen, 13 November 1997

The flag of the ACT features the shield of the Coat of Arms of the ACT. The drawing of the crown is the same as that used in the original 1928 grant of arms for the shield and also as part of the crest. The drawing of the ams has not altered from the 1928 grant, and the shape of the crown was not updated after 1953. Therefore, despite the inconsistency created with crowns on other state flag badges, the Tudor style crown (though different again to the Edward VII style of crown we have been talking about recently) was used for the flag in 1993, maintaining consistency with the official drawing of the arms.
Ralph Kelly, 10 September 2004

Flag change proposals

From The Canberra Times, 12 February 2002: [page 4]

Redesign bid to make ACT flag easier on the eye

Modifications to the bland ACT flag to make it more aesthetically pleasing could see more Canberrans buying and using it, the Australian National Flag Association said yesterday.

Association ACT president Nigel Morris said he had slightly redesigned the current flag, which was designed and adopted by the ACT Legislative Assembly on March 25, 1993, after design competitions.

Mr Morris recalled going to see the ACT cricket team play and being the only person there with an ACT flag. He thought one of the reasons people were not using it was because it was bland.

His version kept all the existing elements of the flag, and added two more to make it more aesthetically pleasing.

"What I am proposing is a slight improvement to the flag, it is not a radical overhaul to what we have," he said.

"...The upper canton of the flag is the honour point of the flag, and to put the Australian flag there, it has obvious symbolic connotations. It keeps the best points of the existing flag but also enhances the overall meaning. I think people will be more likely to use a flag that highlights the importance of Canberra."

He would take the flag to Probus groups, where we often gave talks, to gauge response to it. If it received a positive response, he would consider organising a petition and lobbying the ACT Government to put the matter to the people at the next election.

The article had an image of the proposed flag. Imagine a gold field with the Australian flag positioned in the top left hand corner. The ACT arms are kind of like a badge in the fly.

In my opinion it is at the very least as good as the current one, although I don't think arms always work on flags. Maybe the Royal Bluebell in the fly might be another option.
Raymond Morris, 22 February 2005

It is worth noting that the lack of ACT flags at the Comets game probably had nothing to do with the design of the flag. The only NSW flags I have seen at quite a few Blues games at the SCG have been the ones on top of the Members and O'Reilly Stands - none in the crowd.
Jonathan Dixon, 1 March 2005

The reaction to the flag was encouraging. A few people said if the Australian flag changed then this would mean the ACT flag would need to be changed again meaning the Morris design was a luxury the ACT could not afford. It was interesting that even folks who thought along those lines still accepted the existing Australian flag as the natural order of things. The symbolism of having the national flag - irrespective of its design - on the flag of Australia's capital territory was a concept that folks had little difficulty understanding.

Mr Morris knows former ACT Chief Minister Gary Humphries and I know he spoke to him about the matter before he moved to the Senate. Humphries had himself floated a proposal for a new ACT flag in 2003 - replacing the coat of arms with the Royal Bluebell. I don't always think arms work on flags and Humphries did argue that school children would have an easier time drawing his flag. Humprhies was ACT opposition leader then and he said quite a numbe of people have written to him about the ACT flag and the need for change. He did tell Mr Morris that the public would have to show more interest in the issue before the matter could be considered in the ACT Assembly.
Raymond Morris, 1 March 2005

Former Canberra Flag

contributed by Dov Gutterman

The flag of the Australian Capital Territory replaces one of a similar design, with an ochre-red background that had been the flag of the city of Canberra
Dov Gutterman, 3 April 1999