The Flag

[Bribie G]

One thing that annoys me about the Australian Flag debate that springs up from time to time is the "Oh the soldiers and servicemen both men and women who died defending the flag and we are going to be grinding their memory into the dust if we change the flag... wail wail wail"

They are IMHO playing "now I've got you you sons of Child molester bitches". However to take an objective view, several Commonwealth countries have adopted new national flags and in the case of Canada I could be wrong but more Canadians have given their lives for the empire than Aussies and New Zealanders put together but they gladly embraced their Maple Leaf flag back back in the 60s, 70s ????

Canadian members here, can you remember, or know of, what debates surrounded the choice of the maple leaf flag at that time? An 'inside' view on this from other colonial cousins would be illuminating.

 

[Simon66]

1965 is when Canada got rid of the Union Jack.

It is a about bloody time Australia got rid of it off our flag as well.

I will be flying the Eureka flag tomorrow. The union jack has no place in modern Australia.

Simon

 

[Kleiny]

The flag was not chosen by this country and it may as well represent us as a colony and not as our own.

I would like to see new flag suggestions but keeping the southern cross.

Totally pro referendum get rid of the those silver spooners and the inbred pompess people they are.

Would you go to war for the Queen? or for your country? i know which i would defend.

A little passion maybe

Kleiny

 

[newguy]

The Canadian flag changed before I was born so I can't really comment on the debate at the time. I can tell you that it was a hot topic with basically the same arguments for and against as you are encountering now. The only thing different for us is that those of French descent (which is a pretty large proportion of the population - I think about 20% or so) really hate/hated the English. For them, changing the flag was a non-issue.

 

[Adamt]

I'd say more than 20% of Australians hate the English! From a sporting point of view, at the very least.

 

[Duffbowl]

Would you go to war for the Queen? or for your country? i know which i would defend.

Unless things have changed recently, Aussie servicemen and servicewomen still swear an oath to QE2 as Queen of Australia when they join up.

 

[newguy]

I'd say more than 20% of Australians hate the English! From a sporting point of view, at the very least.

I'd hazard a guess that French Canadians hate the English quite a bit more.

 

[Bribie G]

Interesting show on ABC last week about the way the British Government basically abandoned Australia during WWII after the fall of Singapore. PM Robert Menzies spent three months in London during the early part of the War begging for help for Australia and was effectively shafted by Churchill and his cronies. The same Churchill who was instrumental in the Anzac Cove disaster.
As a Pom who was spoon fed the "Churchill.. the greatest Briton who Ever Lived" party line, the things I have discovered since arriving in Australia and getting the other side of the picture have been jaw dropping.

In the UK you try flying the Union Jack at Cardiff's Millenium Stadium and see what happens to you, likewise during a Rangers / Celtic game in Glasgow. Laddie.

PS however I reckon Churchill would have made a superb AHB forum member - Never in the history of beer has so much been brewed by so few - we shall brew them in our tuns, we shall brew them with our bags, ....

 

[Leigh]

Burn the bastards that want to change the flag I says :runs for cover:

Nah, seriously, most of the "alternative" flags are a bucket of excrement! All for a republic, but I don't think we need to change the flag etc.

 

[brettprevans]

I will be flying the Eureka flag tomorrow.

unfortunately the flag has been bastardized to suit many differant agendas.
unionist use it in their unionist agenda, saying that the rebellion was a bout workers rights.
other will say that the partakers in the rebellionists were dissenters taking up arms against their lawful govt
etrc etc

someone will always have an objection to imagry used. what ever is chosen would need to fully explain what it represents.

oh and there would also be people saying 'what about the aboriginies'. theuir flag should be in our flag. et etc. not an easy issue.


go the flag from Reckless Kelly
exerpt from the movie-

Yahoo Serious, himself, is a republican. .... 90's version of the legendary Ned Kelly. This characteristic is portrayed throughout the film, and becomes clearly evident in one particular scene, when Ned and Dan Kelly visit Sir John, the monarchist bank executive, to reclaim Reckless Island. Here, Ned cuts the Union Jack out of Sir John's proudly exhibited Australian flag. Ned then replaces it with a blue bar mat, displaying the picture of a kangaroo, which is from his home, the Glenrowan Hotel. Sir John reacts in complete shock, saying, "But that's the British flag!." Ned then replies, throwing the Union Jack to the floor, "Well take it back to Britain!." At the end of the film, after the Kelly's had finished fighting off the corporate bankers and had won back their Island, they raise the same flag, with the kangaroo replacing the Union
Jack.

 

[Adamt]

All for a republic, but I don't think we need to change the flag etc.

The two really go hand in hand. No point "freeing" ourselves from the british while keeping their emblem on our flag and vice versa.

 

[petesbrew]

View attachment 35140

A bit too "QANTAS" for my liking CM.

I'd probably swing towards keeping the flag, having convict ancestry (australian royalty, right?).

 

[Fourstar]

PS however I reckon Churchill would have made a superb AHB forum member - Never in the history of beer has so much been brewed by so few - we shall brew them in our tuns, we shall brew them with our bags, ....

we shall defend our mash tuns, whatever the cost may be... ...We shall fight in the hop farms, we shall never surrender! *Aces High!* :lol:

Back on topic.

The whole flag debate is abit of a tough one, not only do we have to cater for the white bread (yes, bread ) Australians which have dominated this land for so long, but also the true land owners and the rest of the migrants who have helped build the foundations and made this country what is is today. with how culturally diverse this country is it might make the process quite diffucult without offending anyone unless we slap down a eucalypt or bottle brush and call at a day.

Unfortunalty i can see this process spiralling down into a flag made up of a meat pie in the shape of Uluru encased in red and green bands sitting under a cedar tree, looking up at the southern cross which is now in the arrangement of Chinese yellow stars.

The unfortunate part is there is no space at this point for the Greeks.

 

[brettprevans]

A bit too "QANTAS" for my liking CM.

I'd probably swing towards keeping the flag, having convict ancestry (australian royalty, right?).

yeah.

i accidently left out the work 'something like' from my post. i meant, 'go something like the flag from....'

need a new flag.

and call it international australia day. love it. go kekka

 

[brettprevans]

Unfortunalty i can see this process spiralling down into a flag made up of a meat pie in the shape of Uluru encased in red and green bands sitting under a cedar tree, looking up at the southern cross which is now in the arrangement of Chinese yellow stars.

The unfortunate part is there is no space at this point for the Greeks.

salami meat pie?

although the cedar tree has me stumped (ha ha..tree... stumped). .arent cedar trees yankie?

 

[Fourstar]

salami meat pie?
although the cedar tree has me stumped (ha ha..tree... stumped). .arent cedar trees yankie?

Lebanon anyone?

 

[Adamt]

Lebanon anyone?

CSI MEME:

I'm surprised you didnt propose removing a star from the Southern Cross...



Because then we'd have...






Four stars.






YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAH

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Personally, i like the Aboriginal flag.....forget whatever attitudes it brings, as a flag it is a great, simple unique design that has a bit of meaning behind the colours used and where they are on the flag

 

[jonocarroll]

CSI MEME:

Too busy to 'shop it together...

- Have you heard that Toys R Us need extra security for the long line of people waiting to buy the latest Australian-flag-bikini clad Mattel doll?



- How Un-Australian, hundreds of people waiting in line to get an American children's playtoy.



- Actually, it's very traditional. I guess you could call it the great Aussie-Barbie-queue.



- YYYEEEEEAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!




< shame >

 

[zebba]

Personally, i like the Aboriginal flag.....forget whatever attitudes it brings, as a flag it is a great, simple unique design that has a bit of meaning behind the colours used and where they are on the flag

Whilst I agree on it being a good flag, I'm pretty sure the aboriginals wouldn't be too happy with us taking it and using it as our own, and I think they'd have a fair point. I'm a big fan of the aboriginal-flag-in-place-of-the-union-jack option, but doing that takes away their individual culture - it's no longer their flag, it's ours, and whilst I'm all about integration and harmony, etc, people still need their own identities... I don't think I'm making sense. It makes sense in my head.

On the republic, in an e-discussion once I had someone say they wanted to punch me in the face when I asked how not wanting a king/queen meant I was disrespecting our soldiers. Still not sure how he thought it was, pledge or no...