Happy Australia day.



I am the national flag of the Commonwealth of Australia. I belong to you & every Australian, equally & freely.

I was conceived before the dawn of the century.

Designed by Ivor Evans, I was chosen over & above some 32,000 contenders.

Although I was never an orphan, I was adopted on that sparkling Spring day, the 3rd September, 1901, when I flew above the Exhibition Building in Melbourne. I was hailed & celebrated by people standing on the threshold of nationhood. They took me to their hearts.

In that official ceremony, in the presence of our first Prime Minister, I became the chief symbol of a new nation, embracing the ideals of self-determination, national sovereignty & personal freedom under God.

I have been hoisted aloft over many buildings, from humble homes to the Houses of Parliament. I have listened to every Prime Minister declare his allegiance to me, to our Monarch, & to our Constitution. I have witnessed the pledge of each one to protect & defend those freedoms we all cherish, even above life itself.

I am carried with pride in ceremonies & processions. I have draped the caskets of your national heroes carried to their last resting place. The caskets of Kings & Queens, eminent Statesmen, Generals, Admirals, humble Privates & the Unknown Soldier.

Wherever free men gather, wherever there is justice, faith, hope, charity & truth; there too, am I.

At the tender age of 14 years, I received my baptism of fire in World War I. I flew proudly in those early days as we heard the call to do battle alongside those of our own kin. I was carried up the steep hills of Gallipoli & I was there with the men in the trenches. I watched Simpson bring out the wounded on his doughy little donkey. I breathed the dust of the deserts & rode in glory with the Light Horse Brigade. I saw our finest sons fall & lie still. They had given their last full measure of devotion. The war was over for them forever, but I kept my lonely vigil over their graves & stayed to watch the flowers grow amid the crosses, row upon row, in Flanders Fields. Oh, young Australia, I was there with your fathers whom I longed to comfort. Look at me again.