^{This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website}

National Colonial flag (Australia)

by Dylan Crawfoot

National Colonial Flag

See also:

National Colonial Flag of 1823-4

Crampton in Flag wrote: "The first flag to carry the four stars of the Southern Cross was the National Colonial Flag of 1823-4, which placed them on the red cross of the British White Ensign."

But Caley in Flag of Stars has: "They sent to the Lords of the Admiralty a design for 'a National Colonial Flag for Australia' and received official approval. That first 'flag of stars' in Australia's history was a white flag charged with the red cross of St George, having in each corner a star to symbolize the Southern Hemisphere under the constellation of the Southern Cross."

I interpret the descriptions as two quite different flags.
David Prothero, 12 May 1998

Captain John Nicholson and Captain John Bingle made the first recorded attempt to design a 'national' flag for Australia in 1823-1824. The flag, known as the National Colonial Flag, had a white ground charged with the red cross of St George and bore four white stars, one on each arm of the cross. Evidently, some time later, someone added a fifth star to the centre of the cross to represent the number of Australian Colonies. This was met with outrage by Bingle, who recorded in his 1881 memoirs, "the Illustrated Retrospect of the Present Century," that no such representation was ever intended.

He wrote that "Sydney in those days was Australia!" and so there were no other colonies to represent. Thus, he said, anyone adding another star to symbolise another colony was moved by "American Notions" and had not comprehended the original intention, which was simply to represent "the emblem of our Hemisphere THE GREAT SOUTHERN CROSS".

And, indeed, it is claimed that this was the first Australian flag to contain a representation of the Southern Cross.

According to Bingle's memoirs, the design of the National Colonial Flag was approved by the Lords of the Admiralty and accepted as an official Australian flag by Sir Thomas Brisbane, who was the sixth Governor of New South Wales. However, despite Bingle's assertions of official recognition, no evidence has as yet come to light to support his claims.

In any event, the flag never gained the support of the Australian people, primarily because while it was representative of those of English descent by virtue of containing the St George cross, it ignored the Irish and the Scots.
David Cohen, 13 May 1998

There appears to have been 6 or 7 somewhat similar flags, quite apart from variations in manufacture as noted from Carol Foley's book.

To quote from Mr. Crampton's flag book in the Eyewitness Guides series:

The first flag to carry the four stars of the Southern Cross was the National Colonial Flag of 1823-24, which placed them on the red cross of the British White Ensign. In 1831 the New South Wales ensign appeared, very similar to the Commonwealth Flag, but with stars of eight points. In due course this became the 'Federation' flag." There is a photograph of this flag; blue St.George's cross, 5 stars, 5 points, one point at the 12 o'clock position.

Another book lists 2 versions of the National Colonial Flag and 2 versions of the Federation flag without specifying the differences.

There was also a flag used in 1987 when a replica of the First Fleet sailed from Portsmouth to Sydney. The 'Bounty' wore as a jack a modified Australian Colonial Flag, with a pre-1801 Union Flag in the canton and the addition of a star at the join of the overall cross to represent 'Sirius', the flagship of the First Fleet.
David Prothero, 14 June 1997

Crux Australis (Oct-Dec '92) shows a reconstruction of the National Colonial Flag with 8-pointed stars, wheras my GIF has 5-pointed stars. The description of the flag by its creator, John Bingle in the 1880's gives no indication of the number of points, although an 1832 flag chart shows similar flags, such as the blue-crossed NSW Ensign with 8-pointers. It should be noted though that there was a lack of consistency among various flags in this regard at that time, so 5-pointed stars I feel are equally likely to have featured.
Dylan Crawfoot, 24 April 1999