The Australian flag

the long version

The Australian National Flag should be symbolic of our identity as a sovereign nation and so unambiguously Australian. Does our present flag, designed almost a century ago in 1901, still represent our heritage and land or is it anachronism? This book shows why we have flags at all and how we got our current one. She tells of its symbolism, and of the many different official flags we have had since Captain Cook raised the Queen Anne Union Flag at Botany Bay in April 1770. It discusses the procedure for change and the power to order it. Who holds the power: the Queen? the Government? the Parliament? the People? The author also sets out the main choices in the Great Flag Debate, giving readers the information but leaving them to make up their own minds.