First Australian Flag RaisingPrint Page

A flagpole commemorates the raising of the Australian Flag for the first time in Australia by the Governor General Lord Hopetoun in September 1901.

Note : The plaque is incorrect in that the Australian National Flag was first raised officially at the Royal Exhibition buildings in Melbourne, Victoria on the 3rd of September 1901 at a public display in the presence of Lady Hopetoun and the first Prime Minister of Australia, Sir Edmund Barton.  It was the blue national flag of Stars and Crosses, size 11 x 5.5 Metres (12 Yards length) raised on the main dome of the building that had been used as Australia's first Commonwealth (Federal) Parliament.

TOWNSVILLE, Sun.— A large crowd assembled in the vicinity of the Town Hall this afternoon to witness the ceremony of unfurling the first Australian flag. It was a great day for Townsville, a fact appreciated by the fighting services, which supplied a guard of honor for the ceremony at the unfurling of the original flag. A R.A.A.F. Dakota flying overhead dipped in salute. Addressing the assembly, the Deputy Mayor (Ald. Angus J. Smith) said the ceremony was exclusive to the city. He narrated the earlier happening 50 years ago to-day when the flag first took the breeze after being hoisted by the Commonwealth's first Governor-General (Lord Hopetoun). At the conclusion of his address Ald. Smith unveiled a plaque embedded in the granite plinth of the new flagpole in the centre of Flinders-street. The plaque commemorates the raising for the first time in Australia of the Commonwealth flag.  
Daily Mercury (Mackay, Qld), 17 September 1951.

Note : The original plinth appears to have been removed during works which converted Flinders Mall back into a two-way street. A flagpole remains at the site and it appears that a new plaque has been sited near the pole. 

Location

Details

Dedication