Australian Flag

With the growing movement for an Australian republic in the mid-1990s, the ramifications of severing our final ties with Britain were being considered. The National Anthem had already been changed in 1983 from God Save the Queen to Advance Australia Fair; but, curiously, the National Flag had not been changed at the same time, despite having the Union Jack pasted into the corner—the position of honor, in flag protocol.

I do believe that our flag will eventually change, perhaps decades from now, just as it is inevitable that we will eventually become a republic. It need not change radically. In any case, I thought I would have a go at designing a replacement.

My flag suggestion has gone through a few modifications from my original design in 1995, thanks to feedback from flag experts.

It was an emotional day in 2008 when, completely out of the blue, my (then) ten-year-old son Matthew responded to a flag design project at school by reproducing my design from this web page—and acknowledging it (see above)! I couldn’t have been more humbled or proud.

Hopefully the Costella Flag gets consideration within his lifetime, if not mine.