Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister, Patrick Gorman, left, with the Speaker, Milton Dick and chair of the National Flag Association, Allan Pidgeon, celebrate National Flag Day, in front of one of the Parliament House flags. Photo: Auspic.
The Australian flag over Parliament House is as familiar a sight over Canberra as the building it flies above. But soon, the flag will take to the road so all Australians can see it, regardless of where they live.
To mark National Flag Day 2024, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Milton Dick, announced that Parliament’s larger-than-life flag – 12.8 metres wide by 6.4 metres high, or about the size of the side of a double-decker bus – would soon go on the road.
Through the roadshow, one of the flags used on the Parliament House flagpole mast, which is 81 metres tall, will visit schools across the country.
“Under this program, Members of Parliament will have the opportunity to bring one of our big flags, that has flown above Parliament House, right into their local schools,” Mr Dick said.
“This will be a really important way we can encourage students to develop an interest, an understanding and appreciation of the flag – in a very practical way.”
Marking National Flag Day in the Great Hall of Parliament House last week with hundreds of guests, including chair of the Australian National Flag Association Allan Pidgeon, and music provided by the choir of St Thomas Aquinas Primary School, Canberra, Mr Dick said it was one of his favourite days of the year.
“Since being elected as the 32nd Speaker of the House of Representatives, I have been working hard to ensure this building is open and accessible to all Australians and our visitors,” he said.
“Flag Day is a very special day because we bring down the iconic flag from the flagmast that stands above this building and have it on display for visitors to see up close.”
He said National Flag Day was proclaimed as a national day in 1996, commemorating the first time the flag was flown on 3 September 1901.
Youngsters celebrate Flag Day 2024 in the Great Hall of Parliament House on Thursday. Photo: Auspic.
He said a competition to design an Australian flag was launched in 1900 which attracted more than 30,000 entries from across the world.
“The majority of the designs contained the Union Jack and Southern Cross, but native animals were also popular,” he said.
“Some people submitted a picture of a kangaroo leaping through the Southern Cross constellation. Some people submitted native animals playing cricket.”
The winning design featured the Union Jack, a six-pointed star representing the six states and the five stars of the Southern Cross on a dark blue background. But in 1908, a seventh point was added to the Commonwealth Star in recognition of the Commonwealth Territories.
“This is the design that has been flown throughout our country for the last 123 years, and above Parliament House 24 hours a day,” he said.
Mr Dick also highlighted the official First Nations flags which fly along Federation Mall and which were also on display in the Great Hall on Thursday.
The Aboriginal flag was designed and created by artist Harold Thomas, a Luritja man from Central Australia and a member of the Stolen Generation. It was raised on 9 July 1971 and featured three colours – black, red and yellow. The artist said the colours represented the country’s first people and their spiritual connection to the land.
The Torres Strait Islander flag, designed by the late Bernard Namok from Thursday Island, was also on show with its strong connections to the land, sea and sky. It features green panels at the top and botttom representing the land and the central blue panel the sea. A white five-pointed star represents the five island groups in Torres Strait, while the white symbolises peace.
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