QUEENSLAND, FLAG OF

Australian flag consisting of a dark blue field (background) with the Union Jack in the canton and, at the fly end, a white disk bearing a blue Maltese Cross and a crown. The flag may be described as a defaced Blue Ensign. In 1859, when there was agitation for the creation of a separate colony of Queensland, an unofficial light blue flag was hoisted; it bore a red Cross of St. George and, in the canton, a Union Jack. On March 22, 1870, the local government reported that it was utilizing as a badge on the British Blue Ensign a white-bordered blue disk bearing the name Queensland in gold on the border and, in its centre, a naturalistic bust of Queen Victoria, based on an 1837 portrait. On November 29, 1876, the official gazette confirmed a new badge for the Queensland Blue Ensign. It consisted of a white disk with a blue Maltese Cross, bearing in the centre the British royal crown. The cross may have been inspired by the one in the collar of the Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George, a British decoration. The crown was probably an indirect way of referring to the queen for whom the territory had been named. After Queensland became a state on January 1, 1901, its flag was little used. The flag was, however, legally reconfirmed on November 26, 1959, for use on public buildings and vessels. There were also two minor changes in 1901 and 1953 that affected the artistic rendition of the royal crown. Whitney Smith History Early exploration and settlement During the period of initial European exploration of Australia and the region of present-day Queensland, it has been estimated that some 250,000 Aborigines inhabited the area. They were either fishing people, living along the coast where food was plentiful, or mountain people, occupying the central and western areas where survival was more difficult. While the Talgai skull, discovered in 1884 and estimated to be about 25,000 years old, exists to prove the immemorial stirrings of human life on Queensland soil, Aboriginal peoples have probably been in the area for 50,000 years. But although by 1606 both Dutch explorers and the Spanish explorer Luis de Torres had found Cape York Peninsula, it was 1770 before Captain James Cook charted the east coast of Australia and noted signs that a great river might empty into Moreton Bay. Cook named and charted many capes, bays, and islands along the coast, landing on the shore of what is now Queensland nine times. Matthew Flinders explored and charted Moreton Bay, refuting Cook's claim that a great river might enter into the bay. In 1823 John Oxley explored Moreton Bay, where he met three castaway sailors who showed him a river that he named the Brisbane. He chose its vicinity for a new and stricter penal settlement remote from Sydney. The following year Lieutenant Henry Miller, accompanied by Allan Cunningham, set out with 30 convicts and their guards to establish a penal settlement on the site recommended by Oxley. After six months at the site, the settlement was abandoned and reestablished at present-day Brisbane in February 1825. In the next few years exploration of the region continued as Captain Patrick Logan and Edmund Lockyer explored the hinterland of the penal settlement, discovering coal and limestone deposits in the process. In 1827 Cunningham was the first European to explore the Darling Downs. The penal settlement Following the establishment of the penal settlement at Brisbane, more settlements were founded at Ipswich and Stradbroke Island. Accounts of life in the penal settlements report harsh treatment of the convicts, particularly those confined to chain-gang duty. Colonization of Moreton Bay region was strictly forbidden because the more dangerous convicts were housed in this region. The number of convicts varied from the initial 30 to more than 1,100 (including 30 females) in 1833. In 1840 the penal settlement was abolished, at which time the convict population numbered about 100.