The Federation star, that some call the Commonwealth star is very important, it signifies the joining of all six states and territories, making Australia the only continent in the world that is one country.
I have posted this many times on fbook and instagram and the other flag page but incase you haven’t seen ,it here it is again
I ‘painted’ this some years ago in 2017, just to get some discussion going ;
I printed it on several teeshirts and gave one to the then chairperson at an ARM general meeting and draped one over a royal statue at the ARM dinner in Melbourne .
I am no painter but I still like the essence of my caption below it
I think the flag is a very important symbol of our independence from the English/British monarchy, but wholesale change to the system with talk of heads of state and a completely new type of government/management will confuse and scare people who would otherwise vote YES to a simple question ;Do you want Australia to be independent of the British monarchy ,and the rest will follow like dominos ,no need to overcook to meal so to speak!
Anyway all I really wanted was our own flag without the union jack on it (eg Canada) if you like this I would love to see some variations/simplifications eg stylized roo or emu across the milky way Eureka intead of crux ,no crux at all , I dont’ have an app and no computer skills .
PS It is available on various products including teeshirts from redbubble.com — search- bjentle or edwin jensen -good luck finding it !!
PPS it is not about money, ‘artists’ only get a tiny percentage, its about getting things out there .
PPPS I would love to know of an easy to use app so that I could do some simple alternatives myself ;
PPPPSThe way the world is at the moment this seems trivial and maybe we are best just concentrating on Harmony /Cooperation eg staying in the commonwealth may be a good thing ?
An new flag for Australia representing multicultural Australia reaching above and beyond the Federation star for a better future for us all
Australia— Inferior or superior ? Ignorance—Europe -Australia
After hearing many young travellers from Europe criticise Australia while they lie on its beaches and laud the virtues and superiority of Europe, My patriotic defences were stirred. Though I call myself danish /german even after 3and 4 generations and give grace to the original Australians, I felt I had to try to open the eyes of the ignorant .
True the English did great harm to the land and its people but even in this we must respect the efforts of the early colonists (and Australians since the country became a nation in 1901) .Many sent here against their will to a foreign alien and harsh land have spent much of the 200 few years since settlement just adapting and surviving ,not much time for refining and settling back in true ‘genteel’ fashion to philosophise .
This is what makes this short time even more amazing even though not enough time has gone by to spawn an Einstein or Newton ,we have invented many things and exported many good artists and scientists to the world and done much to improve the lot of the world from helping Europe in both wars losing 10 percent of our men ,protecting Antarctica and improving air-safety and food labelling.
To those ignorant Europeans ,I say look around to the roads and rail and the towns and cities and farms the power and telephone lines and see if you think you could do it in 200 years !! so go back to Europe and dance around the graveyards of your long dead culture whereby you spout ,Australia has no culture ,,we have buildings that are hundreds or even thousands of years old .
These are buildings constructed by a long dead culture and just as much a part of any living European Australian ,since our ancestors probably came from there when the culture that created the buildings was actually living.
At least our beach culture is a living one and the spirit and body of the oldest continuous culture lives on .
Australia .Can we have control of our own destiny and not be RULED as you say ? There are people of English descent who think that Australians are inferior to them ? I was told once by an Englishman” WE OWN YOU ” How can we respect ourselves if we feel inferior and subordinate to another as individuals or as a country.How can we respect a country which has no respect for us which would not let us return to defend our own country in WW11 and years later detonated Atomic bombs on our soil many times stronger than those dropped on Japan with radioactive clouds drifting far and wide over our land !! Can there ever be a level playing field between England and Australia
Australia .‘An elder of the original people of Australia once said, “The land doesn’t belong to us ,we belong to the land “ . We need to stop living in this ecologically unsustainable human bubble and let the original peoples of the lands we live in ,guide us, as they are most connected to nature and aware of our human part in it .
It seems that the original people of the country want to change the date that we celebrate as Australia Day. Therefore I do also the 26 January for many, signifies invasion.
So this is for the original people of Australia ,who I believe ,want the date of ‘Australia day’, (for want of a better name) changed so that they do not have the invasion and subsequent horrors of dominaton and subjugation rubbed into their faces every year, also I doubt that the young(av age22) men and women(convicts)who survived the long sea voyage in the hold of the ship would be celebrating their arrival on 26-1 either, taken away from home and family (many for speaking up(verbalising)?probably only applicable for KANGAROO friends .
Available where ever you are, at short notice , on various items through redbubble.com
I posted this last year ,its time to think about it again !!
By way of A day celebrations I do love singing along to Aussie songs ,there are so many underrrated and forgotten singers and bands eg ,1927, EUROGLIDERS ,ICEHOUSE,THE CHURCH, GOANNA, MIDNIGHT OIL,MEN AT WORK,RUSSEL MORRIS,BRIAN CADD,MONDO ROCK ,ROSS WILSON,COLD CHISEL,MENTAL AS ANYTHING, HOODOO GURUS , MODELS,INXS,LITTLE RIVER BAND, AUSTRALIAN CRAWL,ACDC,ANGELS,DIVINYLS,
WEDDINGSPARTIESANYTHING,THE CRUEL SEA,PAUL KELLY,……. and so many more, lets start a competition to add
more ….. before A day
Australia —flag ,date of Australia Day Andrew Copelin Hi Andrew, Many of our best have died ,but hopefully not for a flag, perhaps some died for what it represents ,and to many, that is the British Empire and the symbol of our domination and subjugation by it ,is still the major part of it . I am 3-6th generation (but not of British origin ) proudly patriotic , defensive of Australia and always espouse its past’ good deeds and believe that we need a flag that brings us all together (without violence ); But I do agree it is difficult for me to accept, that which is still our flag ,being burnt ,in public ;for many it is symbolic of burning/destroying everything Australian ,an insult at the least which would make many fearful which may turn to hate and violence ; I am sure though, that was not the intention, it would have been just about the DATE CHANGE. It has been bad enough for me all of my life in Australia to know that some in a far way land feel that they are superior by virtue of birthright or place of birth and we inferior because of incorrect assumptions or generalisations which happen to suit them ,but for the original people to suffer the indignation of having the date of the invasion of their land thrust in their face every year must be much worse . We need to be able to discuss things without threatening or abusing those we disagree with . PS I know THIS PAGE IS ABOUT THE DATE ONLY, probably another good reason not to burn the flag, but many people get on a bandwagon and the one responsible may have had their own agenda? . I only care about having our own flag without the Union Jack on it(probably because I am not of British descent )but because it means so much to the original people of the land I also want the date changed ;This year is the 40th anniversary of Bob Hawkes Australia Act, so on the THIRD OF MARCH we? can can another Party !!!?
Indigenous people post Happy Birthday sweetheart ! Those that still try to live in harmony with nature in the ways they have done for thousands of years are precious indeed . We were all indigenous of somewhere but most have forgotten that we are all ,of the same Earth and Human family anyway. ..bej
Aus flag joining comment I am of Danish and German descent ,though 3rd to 6 gen.,I believe that we will come together as Australians if the official flag a symbol of our independence ,not dependence.
Thanks Anthony ! Yes something simple, not too simple ;I think it has to include the land and its flora and fauna which are unique in the world not excluding our tiny place in the universe eg sun and stars . The aboriginal flag has the sun and red ochre earth ,but just the black ? Its nature was here millions of years before the first peoples started to colonise it in waves and now we are multi cultured and of many colours. ? we are just musing aren’t we ,but its good to learn and try to understand other peoples perspectives .
fed star. A little trivial pursuit…. I have not been an historian or politician so please forgive me for not knowing the following but if we ever “change the date ” we could consider 8 December, since this was the date that the 7th star was officially proclaimed in ,1909?
This is significant because only after this did FEDERATION include the whole continent, and more .
Even the 6 pointer was first raised on 3 September 1901 and so could be a practical alternative date?? but all I want for Christmas is a new flag with no union jack on it ,but not just any old flag it must hold significant meaning for the many !
AUSTRALIA A GLOBAL SCAPEGOAT
Australia said NO ! to nuclear energy many years ago .
Ask other countries which use nuclear power, what would they do without it ,to provide all of the energy, people have become accustomed to using.
Ask countries which manufacture CARS at great environmental cost and export these to other countries to burn petroleum products in;
Is Australia worse for selling coal to other countries ? It seems like saying IT’S OKAY TO SELL THE GUN/CARS BUT NOT THE BULLETS/COAL !
We need a global approach, it is INDIVIDUALS ,”consumers” from so called first world countries who need to take responsibility for their own actions instead of looking for someone else to blame.
For example; It is people in these countries, who , for many decades have been buying the cheapest goods without considering consequences.
Many of these goods are made in China ,probably using Australian Coal leading to Chinas very high Carbon and other polluting emissions ,and their wealth ,it’s not really chinas fault.
Is Australia more to blame for selling China coal or the people who order the goods made cheap by the use of coal and the suffering of the peasant farmers.
B E Jensen