1901 – Apr: Official flag competition announced
The patriotic mood of the public was enthused by the concept of a new flag for a new nation and so a magazine, Review of Reviews for Australasia, strongly promoted a much better organised international flag competition in 1901.
The newly elected federal government was moved by the popularity of the cause to announce the official Federal Flag Completion to design the Australian Flag in the government gazette No 27 of 29 April 1901.
Each competitor was required to submit two coloured sketches, a red ensign for the merchant service (commercial shipping, known in wartime as the Merchant Navy) and public use (includes private pleasure craft), and a blue ensign for naval and official use.
1901 – Apr to Sep: Evaluation of entries
The many entries submitted to the Herald and Review of Reviews were accepted in the official government competition.
A record 32,823 entries were received in the Commonwealth Government competition.
It took considerable time for an expert panel of judges to evaluate the numerous designs and select the most appropriate using their guidelines which included history, heraldry, distinctiveness, utility and cost of manufacture.
Conditions of entry – clarification
Several secondary sources have claimed the conditions stated the design should “be based on the British ensigns … signalling to the beholder that it is an Imperial union ensign of the British Empire” and around the Southern Cross.
In fact, there was no such stipulation made either by the Reviews of Reviews, which had received the majority of the entries, or the federal government (although contestants in the Review of Reviews contest were advised that “A flag, perhaps, which omitted these symbols might have small chances of success; yet it seems unwise to fetter the competition with any such absolute limitations”).
Competition winners
Five designers, including two teenagers, were announced as creating the winning design. The five winners received £40 each, large sum of money in today’s terms around $6,500/$7,000. They were:
Ivor Evans:
At the time: 14, schoolboy, Haymarket, Melbourne
Sent design to the Commonwealth Government
Ivor was a student at Prince’s Hill State School
His nom de plume, ‘Simplicity’
Nom de plume is a pen name, a pseudonym
Leslie John Hawkins:
At the time: 18, apprentice to an optician at Leichhardt, Sydney
Sent design to Review of Reviews
In 1951, optician in Northcote, Melbourne
His nom de plume, ‘Elpis’
Egbert John Nuttall:
At the time: 35, architect, Prahran, Melbourne
Sent design to Review of Reviews
Bought an Australian National Flag with the prize money
In 1951, lived in Surrey Hills, Melbourne
His nom de plume, ‘Six Pointed Star’
Annie Whistler Dorrington:
At the time: 35, artist, ‘WInkfield’, Bazaar Terrace, Perth
Sent design to Review of Reviews
Painted wildflowers, now on display in Art Gallery of Western Australia
Died in 1926 in Perth and now memorialised in the Karrakatta
Cemetery where her monument is a feature of heritage tours.
Her nom de plume, ‘Ahasuerus’
William Stevens:
Auckland, New Zealand
At the time: 35, a ship’s officer, Auckland, New Zealand
Sent design to Review of Reviews
His nom de plume, ‘Zoe’
Judges’ Report
In their detailed report, the judges of the official competition wrote, “the great majority (of the entries) contained the Union Jack and Southern Cross, it was felt that the only additional emblem was one representing the federation of the six States”.
The report was published in the Melbourne Age newspaper under ‘Federal Flag and Seal’ on 4 September 1901. See below:
Judge’s report on Australian National Flag competition, under “Federal Flag and Seal”, Melbourne Age, 4 Sep, 1901
Australian Women’s Weekly, 6 Jan, 1951 – page 17