Forging the Nation - Symbols
- Forging the Nation: home
- Federation
- National identity
- Seeking security
- The First World War
- Towards the future
- Australians
- Introduction
- Anzac Day
- Bushman & Digger
- Symbols
Symbols
The Commonwealth adopted formal symbols of national identity during its first twenty years. They included a flag, coat of arms, coinage, postage stamps and a seal. Both national and imperial elements found their way into the various designs.
A competition was held for the design of a flag; the winning entry combined the Southern Cross and Union Jack. The Southern Cross had featured on earlier colonial symbols and had been carried on the banner of the insurgent miners at the Eureka Stockade and on the unofficial flag of the federation movement. Five competitors submitted this design.
The Commonwealth's coat of arms, granted by Royal Warrant on 7 May 1908, had a kangaroo and emu as the supporters of a simple shield. The design did not prove popular, and in 1912 a second royal warrant approved a design in which the shield bore the six state badges and the emu stood in a more natural pose.