The Australian flag

Design of the flag:
The Australian flag is composed of three parts:
The Union Jack (British flag) in the top left corner,
The 'Star of Federation' in the bottom left corner, and
The Southern Cross, taking up the right half of the flag. The Union Jack shows that the first colonisation by Europeans was by Britain. In case you didn't know, Australia started as a penal colony. The Star of Federation is a seven pointed star. They came to the number seven, by giving each state (six in all) a point on the star, and having one more point for Australia's territories (of which there are several). There are two mainland territories, and several overseas, including two in Antarctica. The Southern Cross is a constellation that can be seen from all of Australia's states and territories.

History of the flag:

Following Federation as a new nation (the Commonwealth of Australia) on 1st January, 1901 the Commonwealth Government announced a Federal Flag design competition on 29th April, 1901. The review of Review for Australiasia, a Melbourne journal, had initiated an Australian flag competition in 1900, a unique event at the time. It was agreed that the entries received by this journal would be accepted in the Government’s competition. The contest attracted 32,823 entries from men, women and children. An expert panel of judges assessed the entries using guidelines which included history, heraldry, distinctiveness, utility and cost of manufacture, On 3rd September, 1901, a public ceremony was held at the Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne, where Lady Hopetoun, wife of the Governor-General, opened a display of the entries in the competition. The Prime Minister of Australia, Sir Edmund Barton, announced that five entrants, who had submitted similar designs, were to share the honour of being declared the designers of Australia’s own flag. They were: Ivor Evans, a fourteen-year-old schoolboy from Melbourne; Leslie John Hawkins, a teenager apprenticed to a Sydney optician; Egbert John Nuttall, a Melbourne architect; Annie Dorrington, an artist from Perth; and William Stevens, a ship’s officer from Auckland, New Zealand. The Commonwealth Government and the Review of Reviews for Australasia provided £75 each and the Havelock Tobacco Company added £50 to this making a total of £200 prize money, a considerable amount at the time. The five winners received £40 each.

The Australian National Flag was flown for the first time in September 1901 at the Exhibition Building in Melbourne, which was then the seat of the federal government.
It was announced in Commonwealth of Australia Gazette No 8 of 1903 that King Edward VII approved designs for the flag of Australia, known as the Commonwealth blue ensign, and for the flag of the merchant navy, known as the Commonwealth red ensign. The stars of the Southern Cross were simplified to four seven-pointed stars and one five pointed star. (The 1901 design depicted the stars with a differing number of points to signify their brightness.) In 1908 a seventh point was added to the Commonwealth star to represent the Australian territories.
Confusion developed surrounding the use of the two Australian flags. The blue ensign was intended for official and naval purposes only and the red ensign was to be used by the merchant fleet. However, the general public also began using the red ensign on land. In 1941, Prime Minister the Rt Hon Robert Menzies issued a press statement recommending the flying of the blue ensign as a national emblem. The Flags Act 1953 ended confusion about which ensign to use.

The Flags Act 1953 proclaimed the Australian blue ensign as the Australian National Flag and the Australian red ensign as the flag for merchant ships registered in Australia.

Other flags used in Australia:

Queen Elizabeth II's Personal Standard in Australia

There is an E flag for Australia. It is made of the shield of Australia (6 quarters, 1 for each state) surrounded by an ermine border, the whole thing overlaid with a gold seven-pointed star, a blue disk, a gold circle of roses (I think they're roses), and a crowned E.
This is the personal standard of the current Queen of Australia, used only within Australia, and only when she's personally present. The Queen of the UK leaves her personal standard behind - no England, Scotland or Ireland appear on the Australian E flag.
Because there is no constitutional position for any other members of the (UK) royal family in Australia, they have no personal standards for use here.

Australian civil air ensign

Royal Australian Navy RAN
Royal Australian Air Force Flag
Army flag

Protocol for flying the flag:

Flying the flag
- The flag should be raised briskly and lowered ceremoniously.
- The flag should be raised no earlier than first light and lowered no later than dusk.
- When the flag is raised or lowered, or when it is carried in a parade or review, everyone present should be silent and face the flag. People in uniform should salute.
- The flag should always be flown freely and as close as possible to the top of the flagpole with the rope tightly secured.
- Unless all flags are raised and lowered simultaneously, the Australian National Flag should be raised first and lowered last.
- When the Australian National Flag is flown with flags of other nations, all flags should be the same size and flown on flagpoles of the same height
- When flying with only one other national flag, the Australian National Flag should fly on the left of a person facing the flags.
- Two flags should not be flown from the same flagpole.
- The flag may be flown at night only when it is illuminated.
- The flag should never be flown if it is damaged, faded or dilapidated. When the material of a flag deteriorates it should be destroyed privately and in a dignified way. i.e it may be cut into small unrecognisable pieces then disposed of with the normal rubbish collection.
- The flag should not be flown upside down, even as a signal of distress.
- The flag should not fall or lie on the ground or be used as a cover (although it can be used to cover a coffin at a funeral).

Flying flags at half-mast
- Flags are flown at half-mast as a sign of mourning.
- The half-mast position will depend on the size of the flag and the length of the flagpole. The flag must be lowered to a position recognisably half-mast to avoid the appearance of a flag which has accidentally fallen away from the top of the flagpole. An acceptable position would be when the top of the flag is a third of the distance down from the top of the flagpole.
- There are times when direction will be given by the Australian Government for all flags to be flown at half-mast.

- Flags in any locality can be flown at half-mast on the death of a local citizen or on the day, or part of the day, of their funeral.
- When lowering the flag from a half-mast position it should be briefly raised to the peak and then lowered ceremoniously.
- The flag should never be flown at half-mast at night even if it is illuminated.
- When flying the Australian National Flag with other flags, all flags in the set should be flown at half-mast. The Australian National Flag should be raised first and lowered last.

Funerals
- The flag can be used to cover the coffin of any Australian citizen at their funeral.
- The upper left quarter or canton should be draped over the ‘left shoulder’ of the coffin to represent the heart.
- The flag should be removed before the coffin is lowered into the ground or after the service at a crematorium.