Most of Australian Vexillology up until the 1970s - with the noted exception of the Eureka Flag - has been around the Defaced Blue Ensign design. Since Robert Ingpen designed the Northern Territory flag in 1978 and produced the bi-colour 'Australian Pale" design it has been used by the Australian Capital Territory and many flag designers, such as Brendan Jones, who have made alternate state designs based on the Australian Pale.
The Northern Territory flag:
It is an interesting flag as around the same time the Aboriginal Flag and Boxing Matilda started gaining in popularity. While the Aboriginal Flag was a statement of ethnicity and place, and Boxing Matilda an expression of national fighting spirit, neither were translatable to the Australian heraldic tradition. Ingpen's design with the southern cross in the hoist was.
Stars are often used as a divine apparition into the nation, but Peter Lalor grounded the southern cross and forever entwined it with Australian liberty through
his speech at Eureka:
We swear by the Southern Cross to stand truly by each other, and fight to defend our rights and liberties.
The southern cross has obvious aesthetic as well as historical appeal, and Ingpen's 'Australian Pale' design is a quite stunning use of it, which Australian flag designers have fed off. John Williamson, for instance, has an Australian Pale design
for every state, with an example of a local animal in the 'Pale' area.
Probably the best designer, IMO, of the Australian Pale since Ingpen has been
Brendan Jones, who has designed Australian Pale flag for every state with stylised flora or fauna on the 'Pale'.
For instance NSW:
and Western Australia:
I liked Brendan Jones' NSW flag so much,
I bought one, and
flew it off my house in the US:
I think it only looks better with a background of snow and ice. It is a very stunning and colourful design and raises the question why we still have Blue Ensigns at the state level, they have no civic value whatsoever.
More on flags:
Most Popular on South Sea Republic
The articles that have been viewed the most:
Most Popular Restaurants in Phoenix
Phoenix Eats Out is the restaurant review site for
Phoenix,
Scottsdale and
Old Town Scottsdale which lists the modernist and contemporary restaurants, taverns and bars in the greater Phoenix area.
This is the list of the most popular restaurants pages from phoenixeatsout.com that have been viewed the most;
My personal favourite restaurants in Phoenix are
AZ88,
Postinos,
Bomberos with
Grazie,
Humble Pie,
Orange Table,
The Vig,
Fez and others coming close behind. View the complete list with the photo-journalistic style images on
phoenixeatsout.com
Most Popular Hikes in Arizona
Arizona is an outdoor state and has lots of hiking in the city and around the state. Phoenix is unusual for most cities in having several large mountains in the center of the city with great hiking. Anyone who comes to Phoenix has to do the
Echo Canyon trail on Camelback and the
Summit Hike on Squaw Peak or Piesta Peak. The views of the city, suburbs and surrounding mountains are wonderful from Camelback and Piesta Peak.
For more experienced hikers there is the McDowell Mountains in North Scottsdale that has several difficult and strenuous hikes in
Tom's Thumb and
Bell Pass. Alternatively, you can hike the highest mountain in Arizona. At 12,600 feet
Humphrey's Peak is a long and difficult hike.
Alternate Australian Constitutions
Between 2004 and 2009 this site,
southsearepublic.org, was a constitutional blog based on scoop which focused on Australian and global constitutional issues.
One of the strongest aspects of it was the development of constitutions by those involved in the blog. These constitutions are the outcome:
The constitutions were built using principles from Montesquieu's separation of powers, the enlightnment's universal political rights and the ancient Athenian technology of sortition and choice by lot.
Archives For South Sea Republic
South Sea Republic started in 2004 as an Australian constitutional blog in 2004 based on scoop software. It was an immigrative outgrowth of Kuro5hin. The archives for each year since then;
The articles are ordered by views.
Who Is Cam Riley
I am an Australian living in the United States as a permanent resident.
I am a software developer by trade and mostly work in Java and jump between middleware and front end.
I originally worked in the New York area of the United States in telecommunications before moving to Washington DC and
working in a mix of telecommunications, energy and ITS. I started my own software company before heading out to
Arizona and working with Shutterfly. Since then I have joined a startup in the Phoenix area and am thoroughly enjoying myself.
I do a lot of photography which I post on this website, but also on flickr. I have a photo-journalistic website which lists
the modernist and contemporary restaurants in phoenix. I have a site on the
Australian Flying Corps [AFC] which has been around since the 1990s and which I unfortunately
lost the .org URL to during a life event; however, it is under the
www.australianflyingcorps.com URL now.
The AFC website has gone through several iterations since the 90s and the two most recent are
Australian Flying Corps Archives(2004-2002) and
Australian Flying Corps Archives(2002-1999) which are good places to start.
Websites Worth Reading
Websites of friends, colleagues and of interest;
