The Secret History Behind Australia's Flag

Australia's flag was chosen from 32,823 entries — and five people shared the prize.

After Federation, Prime Minister Edmund Barton announced a competition to design a flag for the new Commonwealth. Five almost identical entries were picked as winners, and their designers split the £200 prize: Annie Dorrington of Perth, Egbert Nuttall of Melbourne, Ivor Evans — a 14-year-old schoolboy from Melbourne — Leslie Hawkins of Sydney and William Stevens, a ship's officer from Auckland. Barton announced the winning design in Melbourne on September 3, 1901.

In that first version, the Federation Star had only six points, and the stars of the Southern Cross had five to nine points to show how bright each one looks in the night sky.

It took until the Flags Act 1953, which received Royal Assent on February 14, 1954 and commenced on April 14, 1954, for the blue flag to be confirmed in law as the official flag.

The date printed on every Australia design in our catalog, January 1, 1901, is the day the six colonies became the Commonwealth of Australia.

A flag shaped by thousands of entries, and finished by five.

See the Australia Southern Cross Tee → · Browse the Australia and New Zealand collection → — or explore the story behind any other country's flag on our free Flag Story Cards page.