Australasian Anti-Transportation League’s flag, a simplified replica.
1851: Southern Cross Design Pattern – Australasian Anti-Transportation League’s flag
• Protest flag against the transportation of convicts from Britain to Australia and New Zealand
• Flown at the League’s first meeting in Melbourne on 28 February 1851 and aboard the sailing vessels, the brig, RAVEN and the schooner SWIFT, in support of the cause
• A silk flag, 3.7 metres long is preserved at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery in Launceston, Tasmania
• In 1853, when transportation ended, the League dissolved and its flag did not fly again though the influence of the design is evident in the Australian National Flag today
• The motto chosen by the League, “The Australians are One”.
Australian Federation Flag
~1880 – ~1900: Australian Federation Flag (originating in 1831 as the ‘NSW/Australian Ensign’)
• A popular symbol of the movement for Federation
• Depicted in a Centenary of Federation stamp (refer “1901 – Federation”)