Which flag? which country? : an Australian dilemma, 1901-1951

Abstract

Federation of the Australian colonies in 1901 signalled the birth of the Australian nation. Managing the ambiguities intensified by this new status, especially at the height of their commitment to the imperial war in South Africa, posed a challenge to Australians. They were an Australian nation within the British nation, an Australian Commonwealth within the British Empire. People of British descent in other dominions experienced a similar dilemma — a phenomenon historians have been slow to explore in comparative terms. Flags are the most obvious markers of nationality. They are at the centre of this thesis, which explores Australians' negotiation of the double loyalty in the first fifty years of federation. The Union Jack was a powerful national symbol, representing the might of the British, whether in Empire or Britain, but more particularly the power of England and its liberal political traditions. Dominated by the cross of St George, the warrior patron saint of England, the Union Jack ultimately symbolised English ethnicity and Protestantism. By contrast, the Australian ensigns were ambiguous national symbols. Designed shortly after federation, with the Union Jack in the place of honour in the upper hoist, they were both colonial and national. Not until 1953 did legislation establish unequivocally which ensign was Australia's national flag. Such ambiguity makes flags and the conflict they provoked useful markers of Australians' changing perceptions of nationality, especially in the wider imperial context as other dominions struggled with a similar dilemma. Schools, particularly State schools, provide a particularly appropriate focus for this study. Through them the thesis explains why Australians were reluctant to use an Australian flag, and why their reluctance varied from State to State.