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1901 Federal Flag Design Competition

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629:. The five winners received £40 each. The differences from the present flag were the six-pointed Commonwealth Star, while the components stars in the Southern Cross had different numbers of points, with more if the real star was brighter. This led to five stars of nine, eight, seven, six and five points respectively. The Inner Diameter of the six-pointed Federal Star in the lower Hoist was larger than that of the later seven-pointed version of the Federal Star in the lower Hoist. Alpha Crucis and Delta Crucis were of different sizes than they are today—with Alpha being larger than at present and Delta being smaller than at present. 698: 689: 734: 716: 707: 743: 725: 644: 673:
Reviews, which had received the majority of the entries, or the federal government (although contestants in the Review of Reviews contest were advised that "A flag, perhaps, which omitted these symbols might have small chances of success; yet it seems unwise to fetter the competition with any such absolute limitations"). This error stems from Gwen Swinburne's 1969 book, Unfurled: Australia's Flag, in which she incorrectly attributes the above quote as a condition for the 1901 Federal Flag Competition. She had apparently used a passage from Barlow Cumberland's 1909 book, History of the
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same design as the Gamma Star (1/7 fly width, seven points) thus making the Southern Cross the same as on the current flag. The 1901 six-point and 1908 seven-point Commonwealth Star outer diameters were both 3/10 of the fly width. However the inner diameters were different. The six-point was half, and the seven-point is 4/9 of the Commonwealth Star outer diameter.
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confirms that number on 20 September 1901. Mr J.S. Blackham, chief of staff of the Melbourne Herald, was the competition official "who superintended the classification and arrangement of the flags" for "when they were shown in Melbourne's Exhibition Building"; Mr G. Stewart was another competition official described by Frank Cayley as "an expert in heraldry".
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Several secondary sources have claimed the conditions stated the design should "be based on the British ensigns ... signalling to the beholder that it is an Imperial union ensign of the British Empire" and around the Southern Cross. In fact there was no such stipulation made either by the Reviews of
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There were five judges for the competition and not seven. This misunderstanding seems to have arisen from the Review of Reviews listing the seven names of the competition's "judges and officials" The Review of Reviews gives the names of the five judges in the 20 August 1901 edition, and subsequently
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The 1901 Southern Cross star-points ranged from nine (Alpha) to five (Epsilon) and inner diameter of each was 4/9 of their outer diameters. Beta, Gamma and Epsilon were the same outer diameter as today, Alpha was 1/6 and Delta 1/10 of the fly width. In 1903 Alpha, Beta and Delta were altered to the
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had approved it as the "Flag of Australia". The revised version made all the stars in the Southern Cross seven-pointed as well as of equal size, apart from the smallest, and is the same as the existing flag except for the six-pointed Commonwealth Star. A seventh point was added to the Commonwealth
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Each competitor was required to submit two coloured sketches, a red ensign for the merchant service and public use, and a blue ensign for naval and official use. The designs were judged on seven criteria: loyalty to the Empire, Federation, history, heraldry, distinctiveness, utility and cost of
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manufacture. The majority of designs incorporated the Union Flag and the Southern Cross, but native animals were also popular, including one that depicted a variety of indigenous animals playing
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held an official competition for a new 'federal flag' in April. The competition attracted 32,823 entries, including those originally sent to the one held earlier by the
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John C. Vaughan, "Australia's National Flag Competition", in Crux Australis: Journal of the Flag Society of Australia, Vol. 2/1, No. 7 (July 1985), p. 21-22.
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agreed to being integrated into the government initiative. The £75 prize money of each competition were combined and augmented by a further £50 donated by
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Five almost identical entries were chosen as the winning design, and their designers shared the £200 (2015: $ 29,142.12) prize money. They were
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The competition-winning design was submitted to the British admiralty for entry into their register of flags in December 1901. Prime Minister
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Ivor Evans, "History of the Australian Flag", in Crux Australis: Journal of the Flag Society of Australia, Vol. 1/1 (June 2, 1984), p. 37.
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to find a flag for the newly federated Commonwealth of Australia. In terms of its essential elements the winning entries are the official
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on 1 January 1901 and following receipt of a request from the British government to design a flag to distinguish Australia, the new
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front cover signed by Egbert Nuttall, after the winning designers of the 1901 Federal Flag design competition were announced.
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Crux Australis: Journal of the Flag Society of Australia, Vol. 8/3, No. 35 (July–September 1992), p. 141 (endnote 10).
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Barlow Cumberland, History of the Union Jack and the Flag of the Empire, William Briggs, Toronto, 1909, p. 289.
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The Review of Reviews for Australasia, 20 August 1901, p. 127, 128; 20 September 1901, p. 241, 243, 244.
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June Cadzow, "Standard Debate Over the Ensign Raised Up Again", in The Australian, 26 January 1984.
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in Melbourne and the judges took six days to deliberate before reaching their conclusion.
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G.H. Swinburne, Unfurled: Australia's Flag, Sirius Publications, Melbourne, 1969, p. 76.
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Henry Reynolds, "An Erstwhile Ensign", in Modern Times, June 1992, pp. 4-5.
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announced in the Commonwealth Gazette on 11 February 1903 that
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Review of Reviews, 20 September 1901, pp. 241, 243, 244.
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and the Flag of the Empire, as the basis of her quote.
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The entries were put on display at the 960:Review of Reviews, 20 August 1901, p.127 824:Commonwealth of Australia Gazette No. 27 642: 586: 492: 884: 594:, one of the winning designers for the 23:This article is part of a series on the 1106: 1025:"1901 Competition - Review of Reviews" 938: 936: 855: 853: 851: 849: 847: 834: 832: 830: 582: 565: 680: 605:, a fourteen-year-old schoolboy from 865: 647:Commonwealth Blue Ensign (1903-1908) 632: 509:1901 Federal Flag Design Competition 181:1901 Federal Flag Design Competition 933: 921: 844: 827: 13: 885:Thomson, Jeff (10 November 2015). 873:The history of the Australian flag 802:List of proposed New Zealand flags 14: 1140: 1097:Review of Reviews for Australasia 1088: 1073:Our Own Flag, (Ausflag pamphlet). 916:Commonwealth of Australia Gazette 792:List of proposed Australian flags 663: 771: 757: 741: 732: 723: 714: 705: 696: 687: 450: 43: 1076: 1067: 1058: 1049: 1040: 1031: 1017: 1008: 999: 990: 981: 972: 963: 954: 891:FOTW Flags Of The World website 779:Heraldry and vexillology portal 945: 909: 878: 818: 1: 812: 529: 7: 750: 74:European exploration (land) 10: 1145: 636: 533: 439:List of years in Australia 69:European exploration (sea) 1129:Competitions in Australia 577:Royal Exhibition Building 987:Cayley, op. cit., p. 98. 797:List of Australian flags 560:Havelock Tobacco Company 515:initiative announced by 918:No. 8, 20 February 1903 875:. 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