'The Australian flag reflects our history. It tells all Australians they are a part of a great story, the same story, which is the history of their nation. Our flag is not some kind of company logo to be remade and remodelled by public relations experts and self-appointed patriotism dieticians.'
The Hon. John Howard MP, Prime Minister
The Australian National Flag is under threat!
Don't be fooled by republican protestations that their republic has nothing to do with changing the flag. The very same people who are leading the charge to rip up our constitution are the same group who wish to tear down our flag. They won't be satisfied with merely abolishing the Crown, the flag will be next!
Our flag, unlike any other, uniquely represents the entire story of Australian nationhood.
The flag has the seven pointed Commonwealth Star to tell us who we are; one indissoluble and united federal Commonwealth of states and territories. It has the Southern Cross to show our nations geographical location in the southern hemisphere, and finally, it has the Union Jack to show where the very foundations of our nations institutions, principals and culture originally came from, a heritage we crafted into a unique and prosperous country. In other words our flag tells us and the world; who we are, where we are and where we came from!
We must not forget also that the flag represents the tens of thousands of Australians who fought and died defending it and Australia in two World Wars, Korea, Vietnam and numerous other conflicts in which Australians have served. Nor should we forget that the flag also represents the many Australians who have proudly competed under it in the name of sport.
What the proponents of change really object to is the inclusion of the Union Jack on the National Flag. They assert in a modern Australia symbols of our British heritage are somehow not representative of who we are today. This of course is nonsense, no flag on earth represents a nation so well.
The Union Jack does not and never did represent a continuing link with the United Kingdom, nor does it exclusively represent Australians of British decent, but rather what all of us as a nation have inherited from the British Isles regardless of our national and ethnic origins.
These include such things as our national language, Westminster parliamentary democracy, rule of law, trial by jury and the common law system of justice, as well as notions of freedom of speech and of the press not to mention cultural icons such as cricket and rugby and many more things too countless to name here. Many of these things above people actually came to Australia to find.
They assert we must have a flag that is somehow 'unique'. However, all their alternate designs always contain the Southern Cross which as they themselves point out is also on the flags of New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Western Samoa - hardly then, 'unique'. This of course does not for one moment make the Southern Cross any less Australian but rather, like the Union Jack, it is a symbol we can happily share.
Any flag which fails to represent our nations overwhelming British inheritance would be a lie. Proponents for change want a flag that means nothing to anyone because it is designed to offend nobody. No other flag so tells the whole story of a nations history, geography and democracy. We must and will fight to preserve it!
For more information about our Australian flags click HERE.
