Current Issue of Crux Australis: Issue No. 123

The most recent issue of Crux Australis is No. 123 [Volume 30/3] issued for the period July - September 2017.

The contents are:

SUMMARY

Framing the edition, tributes mark the recent passing of two flag designers, each influential in different ways. Susan Karike Huhume is honoured for her design chosen in 1971 as the flag of Papua New Guinea, Australia’s nearest neighbour. Gilbert Baker’s version of the Rainbow Flag has galvanised LGBT people, men and women, all over the world.

In recognition of a different kind, the Fijian Government has issued a special banknote in the colours of the national flag to mark the first ever Olympic gold medal won by Fijian athletes at Rio de Janeiro. In 2017, Canada celebrates 150 years since its foundation in July 1867 as a confederation.

Though the British Empire of which Canada was a major part has been transformed, its chief and distinctive symbol, the Union Jack, remains the most distinguished among flags, containing within its folds a design elegance to test those who think they know flags, even their own. In this way, the Saudi and the Australian flags are not immune in the hoisting, even in London, while the detail of the starry one prompts the quiz about its twin across the Tasman.

Others still want to fiddle with their flags – the latest (and failed essay of a political faction) the flag of Mauritania.

Designers’ Corner again takes up the ambiguity of blue in both heraldry and flagcraft - in the flags of Argentina and Tanzania. The inspiration of TED talks on flags is reason for redesigning civic flags in New Zealand, with Rochester, Columbia, Springfield just a few of over 60 in the US alone.

Vexillologists are people who do, or should know, their flags. The Top End Flag Man interviewed is one of them. An eclectic selection of “favourite” flags demonstrates however that there are some who seem content with the superficial and subjective. Others again take the national flag seriously enough to seek formal obsequies for flags worn beyond practical use: Flags Australia’s submission on the matter recommends against such liturgies: overblown reverence too easily turns to propaganda.

Commentary by Tony Burton