Summary

Description Civil Air Ensign of Australia.svg	Civil Air Ensign of Australia
Date	22 February 2012
Source	[1] (see below for transcript)
Author	Original version by Butterstick New, more accurate code by NikNaks W3C-validity not checked.

Licensing

This image is protected by Crown Copyright because it is owned by the Australian Government or that of the states or territories, and is in the public domain because it was created or published prior to 1974 and the copyright has therefore expired. The government of Australia has declared that the expiration of Crown Copyrights applies worldwide. This has been confirmed by correspondence received by the Volunteer Response Team ( Ticket:2017062010010417 ). العربية ∙ dansk ∙ Deutsch ∙ English ∙ español ∙ français ∙ italiano ∙ 日本語 ∙ македонски ∙ polski ∙ português ∙ 中文 ∙ +/−

Specification

Included in the Gazette is a very detailed construction sheet. Unlike the New Zealand case, the dark blue cross itself is 1/10 the width of the fly, with fimbriations 1/3 of its width, leading to a total width for the cross+fimbriations of 1/6 the width of the fly, rather than 1/5. The Union Jack is constructed following the usual rules in a 5:11 canton. The Commonwealth Star has, as in the national flag, an outer diameter 3/5 the width of the Union Jack. (Of course, in this case, this is not the same as the 3/10 of the fly specified in the Flags Act.)

The stars of the Southern Cross are tilted 45 degrees, so that Alpha and Gamma lie on the line from the lower fly corner to the centre of the top of the flag. They definitely have points pointing in that direction, although to the casual glance, the difference between pointing this way and pointing up in 7-pointed stars is not that significant. Say this line is 'A' and it contains a point 'B', the centre of the southern cross. Then the centre of each star is given as:

• Alpha: 1/3 of the width of the fly from B along A towards the lower fly.
• Beta: 1/4 the width of the fly from A towards the bottom of the flag along a line at right angles to A, meeting A 1/16 the width of the fly from B towards the top of the flag.
• Gamma: 1/3 of the width of the fly from B along A towards the top of the flag.
• Delta: 2/9 the width of the fly from A towards upper fly along a line at right angles to A meeting A 1/16+1/15 the width of the fly from B towards the top of the flag.
• Epsilon: 1/10 the width of the fly from A towards upper fly along a line at right angles to A, meeting A 1/24 the width of the fly from B towards the lower fly.

Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta have outer diameters 1/7 the width of the fly and are 7 pointed, Epsilon has outer diameter 1/12 the width of the fly and is five pointed. All stars (including the Commonwealth Star) have inner diameters 4/9 their outer diameter. This means that the Southern Cross is identical to that in the national flag, except for the tilt and the movement of the centre of the cross (B) from the centre of the fly towards the lower fly corner. It is not exactly clear where B is. It could be 1/16 the width of the fly from the centre, so that the line from the centre of Beta meets A in the centre of the fly, but it looks similarly close to the point which makes the centre of Epsilon fall vertically in the centre of the main cross. Either way, the placement is obviously intended to ensure that Epsilon is in the cross and all the others are clear of it.