This is currently the flag of the Australia. It was officially recognised as our national flag in 1953. Previous to that it was used by the Commonwealth government but a red ensign flag was used by the state and local governments, private organisations and citizens.



The Australian flag has strong ties to our British heritage. The Union Jack, of course, being the flag of the United Kingdom and an ensign used by most Commonwealth nations. And it's precisely because of this that a lot of Australians want a new flag. Many feel we need a flag that is more unique, gives us a sense of independence and pride for our own country rather than mother England. And with Republicanism being a big issue in Australia, there may be a need for a new flag if and when Australia becomes a Republic.

There have been many suggestions made and competitions held to find an alternative flag. The main objective for most flag designers being to replace or remove the Union Jack. A simple solution is to replace the Union Jack with the Federation Star:



A popular suggestion has been to replace the Union Jack with the Aboriginal Flag:



Here is Sam Neill in the movie Event Horizon wearing an Aboriginal-ensign Australian flag on his sleeve:



But this design has drawn a lot of criticism. First of all, it's not an aesthetically good design. Harold Thomas, the designer of the Aboriginal Flag has objected to this flag saying the Aboriginal flag shouldn't be placed as an adjunct to any other thing.

So some designed have been made which use incorporate elements of our current flag and the Aboriginal flag rather than just placing them side by side as they are. This is a design called the "Sunburnt Flag":



These two versions of the "Reconciliation Flag" were designed by Brendan Jones:





Here is the first version of the "Reconciliation Flag" on a flag pole:



I personally love both of these designs. They are very aesthetically pleasing and they incorporate the current Australian flag and elements of the Aboriginal flag well. I prefer the second design. But I would definitely vote for either of these two in a referendum.

There is also an organisation called Ausflag who have campaigned for a new Australian flag and have held competitions to find the best designs for a new Australian flag.

What do you think of the necessity of a new flag for Australia? Have you seen any designs you like?

Like hell if i'll ever accept the Abo flag as a part of the national one. To me it represents black racism, handouts, booze, slums, child rape etc.

THE FLAG DOES NOT REPRESENT ME AT ALL AND I WOULD BE SO ASHAMED IF IT AND WHAT IT REPRESENTS WAS FORCED APON ME.

I am not black nor am i a derelict sorry excuse for a human being unlike those dirty primative embarrassing spooks.

End rant.

If i had to choose though if we were to lose our awesome flag, it would be the Eureka one. And of the options above, the sunburnt flag- it looks very Australian. Sure you may say i'm hypocritical here due to it being a mix of the abo flag and ours i see it differently.
The loss of the black colour does it a lot of justice, to me the flag shows the Australian landscape of the southern cross in the sky with the big orange sun rising over the hot surface of our land.
That does appeal to me.

Calanen wrote on Feb 17^th, 2009 at 8:41pm:


I'll supply the matches.

A challanger appears...

lol!


But I'll just say this, you should go with something that's different from the bars. I know your anscestors were English refugees, and that's the thing. You finally got away from England. Why would you want anything to do with those knuckle teethed fascists?

Cocos Islands flag should become the national flag!!

abu_rashid wrote on Feb 17^th, 2009 at 9:43pm:

That looks ridiculous.

The palm tree in the yellow circle (I suppose representing the sun) looks cheap.

The crescent moon denotes an Islamic theocracy which we're not and never will be.

Big no to this flag.

Thanks Bob. I know we've had this discussion before, but it's great to see some actual suggestions put forward.

'Kindy' is not a bad thing. I think we should resist the urge to overcomplicate the flag.

Personally, I don't see much point in trying to change it. To me a flag is more of a historical symbol than anything else. It's practical value is diminished these days. So for that reason we should stick with what we've got.

It's just a symbol for idiots to wrap themselves in while they beat up immigrants.

Many flags have the Union Flag on it.  Commonwealth countries in particular.  To me it is like being called junior.

So i look at it in the light that when we grow up we have our own version of the Union Flag an Australian hybrid.  This maintains our ties with history and heritage.  

Bleeding in the Aboriginal colours is in my view an act of symbollic reconcilliation.  It cements them as a indellible part of our nation.

I have several versions of a draft at home.

The flag can be seen as a form of Union Flaq, locking in our western history and heritage and also our  indigenous history and heritage.  It has the Southern Cross at its centre identifying our place in the world and if you look carefully it can be seen as spearheads pointing to the stars.

You also cant confuse it with either the Union Flag or the NZ flag.  good for the olympics and commonwealth games.  

As for the anglophobia...  that's just childish.