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Proposed Australian government flags

Last modified: 2026-04-04 by ian macdonald
Keywords: australia |
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Proposed Defaced Australian Flags for Papua-New Guinea

[Territory of Papua 1906-1949 (Papua New Guinea)] image provided by Jonathan Dixon, 20 November 2012

In two places in the FOTW PNG Historic flags pages, the 1949 drawing of an Australian blue or red ensign with a badge in the lower centre consisting of a garland-surrounded white disc with the bold black letters T over P.-NG. in the lower centre, but offset completely into the fly is shown. An alternative suggestion was to replace it with a bird of paradise badge. This was suggested as the first of a flag type to be authorised for any Australian territory with a separate administration, blue type for land and harbour craft use (and territory Administrator), red type for administration ships at sea. This suggestion was not put into effect as far as is known. In the early 1970s the territories began to introduce their own flags under their own authority, not in British Ensign format.

Also suggested was a Customs flag for the combined territories of New Guinea and Papua that had a white disc in the lower centre, upon which was the word CUSTOMS in bold black. Nearly forty years later the Australian Customs flag would have the word CUSTOMS in bold white, without the disc of course. This 1949 proposal faded away when the unified territory Customs Regulations 1951 prescribed a flag which was in effect the pre-war New Guinea Customs flag with two more letters (P and &) added.
Jeff Thomson, 10 June 2019

Proposed 'Australian Civil Air Ensign' (1949)

In November 1949 the Prime Minister's Department hosted inter-departmental meetings to discuss an Australian national flag and Commonwealth flag matters in general. The report of these meetings included a recommendation that the Civil Air Ensign of the Commonwealth of Australia be re-designated the 'Australian Civil Air Ensign', and that the stars be oriented to comply with those in the 'Australian National Flag' (the report repeatedly referred to the Australian Blue Ensign by this name). As the Department of Civil Aviation had responsibility for the Civil Air Ensign, they rejected the recommendation to reposition the Southern Cross vertically as it would upset the design of the ensign (three of the stars would intrude onto the fly cross-arm). Thus the changes were never made. This proposal may have been prompted by an unexplained incident in China in which the Australian nationality of this ensign (presumably the 1935-1948 type with yellow stars) was not recognised as indicating Australian national identity.

A related recommendation was that 'In addition to displaying the Australian Civil Air Ensign on the ground, all Australian civil aircraft engaged in international air navigation should have the Australian National Flag painted on the tailfin or other conspicuous position'. Although display of the Civil Air Ensign did not continue, painting of the Australian National Flag onto Australian airliners was generally adopted. So far no legislative requirement to do so has been found.
Jeff Thomson, 29 November 2021

Known defaced flag applications submitted under the Flags Act 1953

The Flags Act 1953 sections 5, 6 and 7 provide for the Governor-General to appoint further flags or ensigns of Australia, to issue warrants for their use in defaced or undefaced form, and to make rules concerning the use of such flags. These provisions have rarely been exercised, and apparently not at all before 1967. This would seem to be because officials of the Prime Minister's Department who would be advising the Governor-General to perform these actions were concerned that they would receive a flood of applications for processing of flags. Although in the event they only appear to have received the applications and enquiries listed below, the PM's Department officials never processed any of these despite persistent follow-up letters being periodically received as late as February 1960. So concerned were they that this matter could get out of hand that by mid-1958 the officials had developed a no-defacement policy toward the Australian flags that remains to this day, and is well-understood in the Australian community. Known applications and enquiries were for;-

CHIEF OF GENERAL STAFF PERSONAL FLAG (1954)
COMMONWEALTH LIGHTHOUSE SERVICE BLUE FLAG & RED FLAG (1956)
No stated reason has been found as to why these flag applications were not processed under the Act.

CIVIL AIR ENSIGN OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA (1954)
The application for appointment of this flag under section 5 was not processed, as advice received from the Attorney-General's Department was that this flag was already sufficiently constituted through other legislative means. The diagonal orientation of the Southern Cross, and the refusal of the Department of Civil Aviation to modify the design so that the Southern Cross stars followed the placement of the stars on the other Australian flags also worked against the appointment of this flag.

DIPLOMATIC FLAGS (1954)
The Department of External Affairs made enquiries concerning processing of proposed diplomatic flags on the British model in 1954. However no formal application nor design details appear to have been submitted. The Prime Minister's Department officials expressed the view that the Australian National Flag was suitable for diplomatic use without defacement.

ROYAL AUSTRALIAN ARMY ORDNANCE CORPS FLAG (1955)
In 1955 the Army applied for processing of a proposed new ensign of the Australian National Flag for the RAAOC, described as an imperial blue flag with the Ordnance badge in the fly and the Australian National Flag in the canton. This format of flag places an ensign in the canton of an ensign, and would have replaced the existing RAAOC British Blue Ensign. It is not known if this flag was taken into use. There does not appear to be a specific vexillological term for flags of this format, although 'cantonilla flag' and 'compound ensign' have been suggested.

BOYS BRIGADE 'COLOURS' (1957 and 1958)
From 1957 there were applications from a local Victorian unit and later, the Western Australian Council of the Boys Brigade, for warrants to deface the Australian National Flag with the Boys Brigade badge in the flag lower centre. A 1958 compromise proposal from the Victorian unit had a smaller oval badge centred on the Union canton. In these applications the units wished to produce 'company colours' that followed the established practice in the United Kingdom organisation, but to reflect a specifically Australian identity.

The refusal to process these several flag applications changed the nature of the Flags Act 1953 from being a 'working Act' providing central control of most Australian flag matters as originally intended, into being effectively a rarely-used 'ceremonial Act' for flag matters of profound national importance only.

Jeff Thomson, 25 January 2022

Proposed defaced Australian flag policy (1949)

One of the many matters discussed at the Commonwealth Government's interdepartmental flag committee meetings held in Melbourne on 21 and 28 November 1949, was defacement of the 'National Flag' and Australian Red Ensign (originally to have been designated as the 'Australian Merchant Navy Ensign' according to an early draft of the final report). The eight meeting participants agreed on a defacement policy which was included in their report recommendations. When the Flags Act 1953 took effect some years later, Sections 6 and 7 were intended to allow processing of defaced flags and ensigns in line with the committee's recommendations. These were contained in three of the 34 numbered paragraphs in the nine-page report and are presented below, verbatim.

Despite these recommendations, the Prime Minister's Department gradually came to view defacement of the Australian flags negatively and did not carry out any actions under Sections 6 & 7 of the Flags Act. By the late 1950s the Prime Minister's Department had adopted a no-defacement policy which continues to this day. (NAA 1863037; pages 26 to 34)

https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=1863037

THE NATIONAL FLAG

7. The Committee also recommend that, although States have their own flags and it is not desired to interfere with the present procedure for their flags, the State Premiers be approached with the suggestion that all State Instrumentalities which wear flags habitually and deal with other nationals in the course of their duties, such as pilot services, harbour trusts, etc. should use the Australian National Flag defaced by the crest or badge of the organisation.

FLAGS AND ENSIGNS USED BY DEPARTMENTS AND INSTRUMENTALITIES (Other than Services and Department of Civil Aviation).

9. In addition to the suggestion in paragraph 7 above, it is recommended that in order to preserve the principles of the usage of the National Flag and the Australian Red Ensign, all Commonwealth Government Departments who wear flags and ensigns on boats and other harbour craft should display the National Flag defaced by the appropriate badge or crest of the Department. Departments which use ocean-going vessels, such as the Lighthouse Service, should use the Australian Red Ensign defaced by the appropriate badge. This is in line with U.K. Government services such as Trinity House.

THE FLAGS OF THE COMMONWEALTH GOVERNMENT AND ITS TERRITORIES

13. Regarding Australian territories other than the mainland and Tasmania, the Committee suggests that generally the Australian National Flag should be used. Where, however, a separate administration has been set up for any territory, the Australian National Flag and the Australian Red Ensign defaced by the badge of the territory may be approved for use on its establishments and vessels in accordance with the normal usage.

34 viii. (Additional recommendation omitted from paragraph 13) Ocean-going vessels of Australian Registry employed by such administrations should, however, wear the Australian Red Ensign defaced by the badge).

A reply from the Department of External Territories dated 21 December 1949 considered only those matters from the report relevant to the external territories. When the views of the territory Administrators were sought on 7 November 1949 regarding flag use, those from Nauru and Norfolk Island were content to fly the Commonwealth Blue Ensign for all normal purposes, the Administrator of Papua and New Guinea advocated for reintroducing a blend of pre-war New Guinea and Papua flag practices. But the Department's view was that although agreeing with the recommendations of the flag committee's report, they considered that 'for the present' the external territories should not have separate flags other than prescribed Customs flags. The territories should fly the 'Australian National Flag' at their establishments and on harbour craft, and as the personal flag of the Administrators. Any ocean-going vessels employed by these administrations would fly the undefaced Australian Red Ensign. This view suggests that the idea of defacing the Australian flags for specific purposes was already falling from favour by 1949, at least in the case of the Department of External Territories. (NAA 102516; pages 211 to 214).

https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=102516

This remains as the policy concerning flag use in the territories to date. The introduction of distinctive territory flags is a matter for the territory administrations and governments, and the Australian Government has not created official distinctive flags for the uninhabited territories.

Jeff Thomson, 20 January 2026