Back at Christmas, you may recall I became a landowner in Australia when Mr. Lime bestowed upon me the title to one square meter of Queensland. I've got a lot of learning and adapting if I am going to be a proper Aussie landowner.
This past week a very sweet person provided me with my very own Australian flag and a bottle condom (I love them both!) so I thought I'd start learning about the flag.
*image and information take from wikipedia.com
The current design was approved in 1954. It's comprised of 3 main elements. The Union Jack, the Commonwealth Star, and the Southern Cross. The Union Jack obviously indicates Australia's history as a British colony. The Commonwealth Star in the lower left originally had 6 points to represent the six originally federating states. The 7th point was added for the Territory of Papua and now represents all external territories. The southern Cross is the brightest constellation in the southern hemisphere and has been associated with Australia since it's earliest days as a colony. One of the flag's designers was 14 year old Ivor Evans, who wanted the four points of the constellation to symbolize justice, prudence, temperance, and fortitude. the blue field is said to represent the ocean, the journey to Australia, the sky, and as a reminder of the early Eureka flag.
In recent years there has been some push to redesign the flag and remove the Union Jack so there is a greater demonstration of Australia as a sovereign nation. A notable advocate of this view is former PM Paul Keating.
Interestingly, in the package that contained my flag and cooler there was also a current newspaper with a surprising article. Apparently, the organizers of this years Big Day Out rock festival scheduled for Australia Day in Sydney banned the national flag. They planned to confiscate any flags or bandannas bearing the flag. They had branded it as gang colours being used as a racist symbol disguised as patriotism.
So the question is...can I fly it on my own land or not? If I do, should I just tell the authorities to bugger off?
24 comments:
bloody cool post.....how are things? I have not seen you around much.
Right mate, we'll just ride in on the back of little horseflies, that's how we'll fit the aeronautics onto your property!
Then, we will get out the vegemite and digereedoo and have a celebration!
Lime, 21 more meters and you could have a cricket pitch!
Aussie! Aussie! Aussie!
Oi! Oi! Oi!
Give her a meter and she is telling off the authorities already, that's my girl!
Thanks for the history lesson! Who knew that there was so much controvery in one little flag. I say fly it loud and proud! If nothing else, you'll have a funny story to tell the future grandkids when they asked why grammy was in prison!
Alright! Fly that flag proud on your meter!
So does that meter give you voting rights?
LOL cool post :)
Thanks! I had no idea about the flag. It's pretty cool.
I'm all for thumbing my nose at authority! Fly the flag and be proud :)
jodes, things are a bit nuts, what with house improvments and all
susie, lmao 2 the image of flying in on the backs of flies! ride em 'flygirl?'
tt, LOL oi! oi!oi!
logo, i know youof all people would be proud
rm, they can hang my framed mugshot over the mantle
ameratis, excellent question. all i know is voting is mandatory for citizens...
myutopia, glad you enjoyed
moose, come visit me on my land, if we each have a flag it will cover my entire plot!
What the hell is a bottle condom?
tc, it's a neoprene sleeve to put over your beer bottle to keep it nice and cool.
...unrest in Australia? noooooo, (considering that it started out as Great Britains prison colony???)
-Not aware of the wanting to remove the union jack... am aware that there was some hubub about the aboriginal people wanting to be considered as 'people,' ----which gave a bit of a problem ---as they were on the island first, ---and weren't given full rights as humans, (let alone as land owners,) ---though their beliefs don't really go with 'owning,' the land... (that's if my Crocodile Dundee sociology understanding is still accurate...)
-Very wonderful and prounounced people, though... (I had a friend who married an aussie, first time he met the girl's father, someone mentioned 'the queen,' to which the man said, 'right, okay well this one's for the queen,' --and the gentleman proceeded to urinate off the front porch....
lacquer, i think i would get along well with your friend's father-in-law. i thought his response was absolutely hilarious. i mean after all, i told the american ambassador to trinidad she embarassed me as my representative and i told the first lady of trinidad her husband's policies regarding squatters were offensive.
If you like the flag, fly it. Very interesting post. :)
Cool post, I have been in Australia in 1996 and love the place, I didn't know that much of the history of the flag though! Congratulations on your huge property! I think you should fly your flag as much as you like!
Michelle Aussie Trini Limey,
Pretty soon you'll have more surnames than Liz Taylor.
yeah Lime that "bottle condom" thing was kinda weird. You better use the trini term: beer hug.
I did not know that.:)
kfarmer, thanks!
renny, i'd love to hear about your trip
g-man, i need my DL to remember my name now as it is!
tt & tc, lol, i used the term the aussie who bestowed the gifts upon me used.
Most interesting post. Learned a lot here. Fascinating a 14 year old boy had such great visions.
Can you plant the Australian flag on your land? I would not recommend it. They sure have regulations for flagging. So then what to do:
Peace of cake: Establish your own colony and design a new flag. How about that?
=^.^=
They shall NEVER be free of us...bwahahahahahahahahaha
toraa, you are brilliant!! the independant republic of lime!
hypersonic, ya bloody colonizer!
The reason that TC never heard of a bottle condom, is that his beers never sit around long enough to "uncool".
( know what i mean? open, chug, toss, open, chug, toss, etc. )
...yeah, I think beer hug is a bit easier to take than 'bottle condom.' (yeeesh.)
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