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Gladstone City Council (Queensland, Australia)

image located by Valentin Poposki, 8 January 2011

Description of the Flag

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Description of the Flag

The flag of the Gladstone City Council, Queensland, is vertically divided blue and orange, where the orange part is wider, and the city seal placed on the line between two colors. You can see it here: http://www.australianexplorer.com/photographs/queensland/photograph_gladstone_council_chambers.htm.
Valentin Poposki, 8 January 2011

Is the orange part wider, or is that not just a symptom of the odd way both flags are pinned to the wall?

Also, it's really a former flag, as this council doesn't exist any more, since 15 March 2008, when it was merged with Calliope Shire
Council, Miriam Vale Shire Council and Gladstone Calliope Aerodrome Board to form Gladstone Regional Council, with a new logo.

The photograph is a bit low resolution, but it looks to me like the seal in the middle of the flag is the same as or similar to the one
depicted on the Wikipedia here: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/43/Gladstone_Logo.png which looks as if it has some provenance from the council. Although, on the former flag, there is a small gap and then it is surrounded by a white ring, with the words CITY OF at the top of the ring and GLADSTONE at the bottom. It also looks as if the seal graphic might be slightly off centre.

Sources:
(1) Gladstone Regional Council, web site, http://www.gladstonerc.qld.gov.au/council/index.html, date stated to be 2008, but as consulted 09 January 2011
(2) Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gladstone_Logo.png, 18 March 2008, as consulted 11 January 2011
Colin Dobson, 8 January 2011

Gladstone is a city on Port Curtis, on the Queensland coast about 550 km north of Brisbane by road. The City of Gladstone was a local government area including the urban area and immediate surrounds.

The so-called crest from the seal of the city was described on a council webpage, archived at www.gladstone.qld.gov.au/gcc/index.asp?id=75 and is also pictured at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gladstone_Logo.png.

It appears in a roughly octagonal shape, with yellow backing visible in continuation of the gold fimbriation separating the four quarters. The first quarter is black demi-griffin on white, referring to the arms of British prime minister William Gladstone, for whom the city is named. The second quarter is blue, with an arm (in naval uniform) issuing from naval coronet and holding a flag displaying a wolf's head an cross. This comes from the crest of the arms of Admiral Sir Roger Curtis, for whom the harbour is named. The third quarter shows a yellow banded fleece on white, interpreted by the city as a symbol of Spanish knighthood, a reference to Sir Maurice Charles O'Connell, the leader of the successful second settlement at the city's location. The fleece is fairly common in early Australian heraldry, and the explanation also suggests that it might celebrate the short lived colony of North Australia, excised from New South Wales in 1846 with Port Curtis as the capital. The fourth quarter is blue with a three masted, one funneled paddle steamer, probably representing the Cornubia, which was used by Colonel Barney when he selected Port Curtis as the main settlement for the new colony.

At the centre of the device is a yellow cross moline. The council suggested that this may represent the eight years between the original attempt to establish a colony there in 1846 and the successful settlement in 1854. Before reading this, I wondered whether it was meant to be similar to the Maltese cross in the Queensland state badge.

Altogether, the explanation "reads" the message of the seal as "The City of Gladstone, situated on Port Curtis, exercised from the colony of New South Wales, chosen by Colonel Barney, Lieutenant-Governor of North Australia and finally settled successfully by Sir Maurice Charles O'Connell after eight years of sacrifice and hardship."

I have described the colours used in the "crest" as used as a logo. The original colours are unknown, and the flag in the photo appears to have white backgrounds in each quarter, with the whole thing placed on a blue circle only slightly larger than the device as a whole. This circle is surrounded by a white band bearing the words "CITY OF" (top) "GLADSTONE" (bottom).

Gladstone Regional Council was formed as part of a statewide reform of local government areas on 15 March 2008, through a merger of the City of Gladstone, the Shire of Calliope and the Shire of Miriam Vale.

I haven't found any sign that the Region has a adopted a flag. In July 2008, Councillor Sellers, after observing NAIDOC (National Aboriginal Islander Day Observation Committee) week flag raisings, lamented the lack of a Council flag and a South Sea Islander flag. (http://www.gladstonerc.qld.gov.au/council/meetings/docs/GM20080708.pdf, General Meeting Minutes, 8 July 2008). Despite being (correctly) informed that NAIDOC week is not necessarily the best time to use a SSI flag, Councillor Sellers still wanted the
Council to have one (http://www.gladstonerc.qld.gov.au/council/meetings/docs/GM20080715.pdf, General Meeting Minutes, 15 July 2008) and a SSI flag was used in the 2009 NAIDOC week flag raising, but not a city flag (http://www.gladstonerc.qld.gov.au/council/newsletter/pdf/GRCNewsAugust09.pdf. the Council Connection newsletter, August 2009 - Issue 14). The flag used was the design here, not the ASSI flag designed by Tony Burton and adopted by ASSIUC in 1998 (see http://www.flagsaustralia.com.au/ASSI.html).
Jonathan Dixon, 8 January 2011