Talk:Parliament house centenary flag (Australia)

The parliament house centenary flag is the "iconic" specimen that flew above the capitol building in Canberra on Australian National Flag Day 2001. The 3rd of September that year marked 100 years to the day from when the first Australian flag was flown from the Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne.

History
On the 18 September 2001 during the centenary of federation the federal member for Hinkler, Paul Neville, would request of the speaker that:

"before it [the flag] becomes too faded or too tattered, [it] be taken down and perhaps offered to a museum or an art gallery as the seminal flag that flew over this building 100 years from the time the first flag was flown?"

The parliament house centenary flag was subsequently entrusted to the Australian Flag Society (AFS) and has been paraded at schools to mark Flag Day on a tour of the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales and Queensland.

It has resided in Queensland since 2003 where it has become a Flag Day tradition having been exhibited under the auspices of various loyal societies including the local chapter of the Australian National Flag Association (ANFA).

Australian Flag Society collection
According to Dr Elizabeth Kwan's "Flag and Nation" the AFS was originally constituted as the Australian Capital Territory branch of ANFA. However, on 15 July 2003, affiliation with ANFA was severed, and the organisation rebranded as a national body. The organisation was founded by Nigel Morris who in 2002 secured federal funding for the distribution of the "Our National Flag ... since 1901" video kit to all primary schools in Australia  being described as a "flag lobbyist" by the Canberra Times.

The official AFS facebook fanpage states the following aims and objectives:


 * Making civics education, vexillogical and other resources available to organisations and the general public and considering all requests for grants of aid and materiel.
 * Due recognition of the Australian National Flag and observance of Australian National Flag Day, 3 September.
 * Facilitating contact between supporters of the Society to discuss ways to promote the Australian National Flag and patriotism in general.
 * Maintaining a general headquarters and preservation of the Society's collection.
 * Continuing to add to the body of knowledge through primary research.

In addition to acting as the custodian of the parliament house centenary flag the AFS has proposed that 22 August be proclaimed as "Captain Cook Day" in 2005 to commemorate the day explorer James Cook laid claim to the east coast of Australia as New South Wales on Possession Island in the name of King George III. In 2013 the AFS would also announce a worldwide quest and $10,000 reward for information leading to the discovery of the Union Jack which was reportedly hoisted as a second flag at the battle of the Eureka Stockade.

The AFS has proposed that all schools in Australia pause to recite the words of the national salute as part of the annual Australian National Flag Day commemorations. Formerly a tradition the national salute was part of the school curriculum until falling into disuse from the late 1950s. The version used by the AFS in conjunction with the parliament house centenary flag reads as follows:

"I fear God, I love my country, I honour her Queen, I salute her flag, I promise to always obey her laws."