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Flags Act, Australia

Actions made under the Flags Act 1953

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Actions made under the Flags Act 1953

This is a list of known proclamations and other actions by Governors-General under the provision of Sections 5, 6 and 7 of the Flags Act 1953. It lists the actions in order of their inclusion in the Commonwealth of Australia Special Notices Gazette. The Australian White Ensign was proclaimed in the general Gazette several years before the Special Notices Gazette came into being.

https://www.legislation.gov.au/gazettes/historic

AUSTRALIAN WHITE ENSIGN - appointed under Section 5.

Gazette No 18, Wednesday 1 March 1967.

Automatically repealed 1 January 2008.

PAPUA NEW GUINEA WHITE ENSIGN - appointed under Section 5.

Special Gazette 92 D, Wednesday 13 November 1974.

Revoked in Special Gazette S 44, Thursday 14 March 1976.

This flag was appointed as an ensign of Australia, as Papua New Guinea transitioned to independence. It was of a significantly different design to the current Papua New Guinea White Ensign and was revoked six months before PNG independence.

ROYAL AUSTRALIAN AIR FORCE ENSIGN - appointed under Section 5.

Special Gazette S 89, Thursday 6 May 1982.

Automatically repealed 1 January 2008.

TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER FLAG - appointed under Section 5.

Special Gazette S 258, Friday 14 July 1995 (placed at end of Gazette GN 28, 19 July).

Automatically repealed 1 January 2008.

AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINAL FLAG - appointed under Section 5.

Special Gazette S 259, Friday 14 July 1995 (placed at end of Gazette GN 28, 19 July).

Automatically repealed 1 January 2008.

AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE FORCE ENSIGN - appointed under Section 5.

FLAGS (AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE FORCE ENSIGN) RULE 2000 - made under Section 7.

Special Gazette S 190, Friday 14 April 2000.

Automatically repealed 1 October 2006.

CENTENARY FLAG WARRANT - made under Section 6.

Special Gazette S 382, Thursday 20 September 2001.

REMAKE OF INSTRUMENTS - Friday 25 January 2008.

On this date the five flag appointments and one set of Rules that had been automatically repealed under the provisions of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003, were remade by the Governor-General. These took effect retrospectively from the dates of repeal (1 October 2006 or 1 January 2008) but were not proclaimed in the Gazette.

The automatic repeal of the above proclamations was because they were required to be lodged in accordance with the Legislative Instruments Act 2003 but due to an administrative oversight, none of them were. Although the new proclamations were entered in the government legislation database with the new addition of colour images of each flag, they were not included in the Gazette as these proclamations were all 'machinery in nature', according to their respective Explanatory Statements.

Jeff Thomson, 16 August 2025