1986 Design Competition: 1st Place

Flag Proportion: 2:3

Ausflag first ran a major public flag designing competition in 1986 in The Bulletin magazine to lead up to Australia's bicentennial celebrations, hoping that the mood of national self-examination might lead to public support for a new flag. Over $100 000 of prizemoney was awarded, with the overall winner of the competition, Wayne Stokes, being awarded $58 000.

The winning design (above) was a modification of Wayne Stokes' original design. It was a deliberately evolutionary flag, although Wayne Stokes had used yellow in his original design, which the judges believed compromised its evolutionary spirit. Also, the band width of the red and white stripes was changed on the advice of Tony Burton of the Flag Society of Australia.