Flag Day 2024, was an important Flag Day event week of activity. Shown here to encourage others

Upon federation in 1901, Australia’s first Prime Minister, the Rt Hon Sir Edmund Barton, announced an international competition to design a flag for the new Commonwealth of Australia. There were 32,823 entries, of which 5 nearly identical designs were awarded equal first.

The prize money of £200 was divided among the winners: Annie Dorrington from Perth, who became quite a well-known artist; Ivor Evans from Melbourne, a 14-year-old school boy whose father owned a flag-making business; Leslie Hawkins, a teenager from Leichhardt in New South Wales; Egbert Nuttall, from Prahran in Victoria; and William Stevens, First Officer in the Union Steamship Company of New Zealand.

The Australian Flag was flown for the first time on 3 September 1901, the day on which the then Prime Minister announced the 5 joint competition winners. It was flown over the dome of the Exhibition Building in Melbourne, which was the then seat of the federal government, where all the designs were on display. The Australian National Flag as we know it today is based on this design. In this original design, the stars of the Southern Cross had different numbers of points to signify their varying brightness.

To commemorate the day on which the Australian National Flag was first flown, 3 September of each year is officially recognised as Australian National Flag Day.