Flag Adopted: 14 April 1954
Flag Proportion: 1:2
Use: State, Civil and Military Flag and State Ensign
in vexillological terms, the Australian flag is a defaced British blue ensign (the State Ensign of the United Kingdom).
In the upper hoist (canton) of the flag is the Union Flag (i.e. the State and Civil Flag of the United Kingdom, popularly called the Union Jack). On the fly are 5 white stars, representing the Southern Cross, a constellation of stars generally only visible in the southern hemisphere. Each of these stars has 7 points except for the smallest star which has only five.
Directly below the Union Flag is a large 7 pointed white star called the Federation Star, representing the federation of the colonies of Australia on 1 January 1901. There is one point for each of the six original states, and one to represent all of Australia′s internal and external territories.
References
Australian Flags
Department of Administrative Services, Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, 1995.
The Australian National Flag
Department of Administrative Services, Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, 1988.