Janet Holmes a Court keen to see the Union Jack removed from the Western Australian flag and replaced with a design like this
Western Australia could well become the first Australian state to drop the Union Jack from its flag.
In a new campaign fronted by Janet Holmes a Court, non-profit organisation Ausflag is aiming to convince State parliament that we no longer need British references on the flag.
The conglomerate has sent a new suggested design to State MPs featuring a bold black and yellow banner stamped with the Southern Cross and a black swan.
“I’d love to have a West Australian flag that is uniquely West Australian,” said Holmes a Court. “WA has shown courage and independence in the face of this dreadful pandemic. It seems an appropriate time for us to think about having our own flag.”
The Union Jack once represented the history of British settlement in Australia. It is also on our national flag, where it sits above a white Commonwealth, or Federation, star. Ausflag and Holmes a Court agree it does not represent West Australians fully, and certainly does not reflect our Indigenous history.
“We are one of the most multicultural societies in the world,” Holmes a Court said. “I don’t think we need to have a symbol of colonisation on our flag.”
While the Northern Territory and the ACT have ditched the Union Jack on their respective flags, no State has done so yet. Indeed, all State flags look rather similar, featuring a British Union Jack accompanied by a state symbol.
With regard to the suggested flag redesign of WA (image, top of story), a proposal to MPs suggests “the black panel symbolises Western Australia’s Indigenous heritage and night sky, while the Southern Cross represents that first and foremost we are Australians and provides a link to the national flag.
“The larger yellow field is symbolic of Western Australia’s sun, mineral wealth and its enormous areas of desert, while the black swan is the iconic symbol of WA.
“Black and yellow have also been adopted as the colours of many representative sporting teams from Western Australia.”
In art and design, yellow and black have been adopted often to represent WA, too, as highlighted by Cream several years back.
Parliament has the power to change the flag by amending the State Flag Act 2006, and Ausflag are hoping that any parliamentary vote on the issue would be non-partisan, with MPs permitted to vote outside of party lines.
Antonino Tati
CREAM MAGAZINE 
2 Responses to “Janet Holmes a Court keen to see the Union Jack removed from the Western Australian flag and replaced with a design like this”
Please just leave the flag as it is. There is a lot of history with union Jack.
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It will NOT happen! You maybe of South African Origin. However there are far more “Brits” spanning a multitude of generations.
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