Why does Australia....

[IceCap]

(And by the same token, why did the Netherlands choose orange as their national colour?)

because the royal family of the netherlands dates back to the country's founder, william of orange.

Thanks for the answer and I'm glad I know now too.......but I still think its screwed up. Most teams colors match their flags. I think they should. We have stars and stripes all over our uniform, UK always has a union jack or something......I just dont like what austrailia does.

as far as australia and new zealand goes, the national flags should change, not teh sporting colours. first off, australia and nz have very simular flags. also they are the only independent countries left to still have the union jack on thier flag. australia should adopt a new flag that is primaraly green and gold, and nz should adopt a primaraly black and white flag.

Except for Fiji, Tuvalu & Bermuda you mean.

I'm quite happy with our flag, and quite happy with our sporting colours.

Why should the two be the same?

Canada's flag doesn't contain any black, yet that seems to be an unofficial third colour of their sporting teams.

well bermuda is still a british colony. as for tuvalu, in '95 the eleminated the union jack from the flag, but went back to it, as can be seen from this link: http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/tv.html still, the light blue ensures that it is never confused with either an australian or nz flag.

fiji is messed up. it voluntarely left the commonwealth of nations, yet decided to keep the british symbols

as for canada's colours, on all of our teams unis red and white is prominant. black is just an accent/trim. australian unis dont even include red, white, and blue. it would be different if australian unis where red, white, and blue, but with some green and gold accent. however this is not the case.

i saw a proposal for a new australian flag that was pretty neat. it was almost like the current flag in desighn, but teh colours where different. insead of a blue flag, the flag was green. the stars where coloured gold. the union jack was replaced with a red field with a golden kangaro in its centre. if i can find teh pic again i'll post it.

couldnt find it, so i recrated it to the best of my memory and abilities.

[Alphabet Man]

the green and red do not go together.....

also the Aussie flag has a 7-pointed star under the union jack, the NZ flag doesn't have a flag

anyway, NZ is our 7th state really, everyone there wants to be known as an Aussie so it is really a state flag!

[Brian in Boston]

Frankly, I don't see how the flags of Australia and New Zealand are so "easily" confused. Sure, both flags feature Blue fields with the British Union Jack occupying the upper canton nearest the staff and a depiction of the Southern Cross constellation occupying space in the fly.

However, on the Australian flag the Southern Cross is comprised of five, all-White stars. The four brightest points in the constellation are represented by seven-pointed stars of the same size, while the lesser Epsilon Crucis is represented by a smaller, five-pointed star. Additionally, a large, seven-pointed, White "Commonwealth Star" occupies the hoist, centered below the Union Jack.

On the flag of New Zealand a stylized depiction of the Southern Cross is comprised of only four stars. Each of these five-pointed stars is Red outlined in White. Further, each of these stars varies slightly in size.

It seems simple enough to me: Six all-White stars = Australia; four Red stars trimmed in White = New Zealand.

[DEAD!]

Frankly, I don't see how the flags of Australia and New Zealand are so "easily" confused. Sure, both flags feature Blue fields with the British Union Jack occupying the upper canton nearest the staff and a depiction of the Southern Cross constellation occupying space in the fly.

However, on the Australian flag the Southern Cross is comprised of five, all-White stars. The four brightest points in the constellation are represented by seven-pointed stars of the same size, while the lesser Epsilon Crucis is represented by a smaller, five-pointed star. Additionally, a large, seven-pointed, White "Commonwealth Star" occupies the hoist, centered below the Union Jack.

On the flag of New Zealand a stylized depiction of the Southern Cross is comprised of only four stars. Each of these five-pointed stars is Red outlined in White. Further, each of these stars varies slightly in size.

It seems simple enough to me: Six all-White stars = Australia; four Red stars trimmed in White = New Zealand.

Well how about you take those flags, go out on the street and asked some ordinary people which flag is which? (Kinda like Jaywalking) In fact, just plain ask them which country does this and that flag belong to.

[rmered]

Frankly, I don't see how the flags of Australia and New Zealand are so "easily" confused. Sure, both flags feature Blue fields with the British Union Jack occupying the upper canton nearest the staff and a depiction of the Southern Cross constellation occupying space in the fly.

However, on the Australian flag the Southern Cross is comprised of five, all-White stars. The four brightest points in the constellation are represented by seven-pointed stars of the same size, while the lesser Epsilon Crucis is represented by a smaller, five-pointed star. Additionally, a large, seven-pointed, White "Commonwealth Star" occupies the hoist, centered below the Union Jack.

On the flag of New Zealand a stylized depiction of the Southern Cross is comprised of only four stars. Each of these five-pointed stars is Red outlined in White. Further, each of these stars varies slightly in size.

It seems simple enough to me: Six all-White stars = Australia; four Red stars trimmed in White = New Zealand.

Well how about you take those flags, go out on the street and asked some ordinary people which flag is which? (Kinda like Jaywalking) In fact, just plain ask them which country does this and that flag belong to.

And then ask those same people 5 random general knowledge questions and see how they go.

- What is the capital of Canada? Most people you will be able to ask will say "Toronto?"

- What is the capital of Australia? "Sydney?"

- Who won the World Cup of Football in 2002? Most will ask "you mean the Super Bowl?

- How long after World War 2 started did the Americans join the Allies? "What? We were there Day 1. Weren't we? The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour, right?"

- How does Superman fly?

Who cares what the 'ordinary people' think?

Ordinary people usually don't think.

For the curious.

Ottawa. (Also Odda-wah, eh)

Canberra. (Also Kan-bra, mate)

Brazil.

2 years 3 months 5 days. (Sept 3 1939 to 8 Dec 1941) I'd accept 2 years as being correct though.

Blue Screen movie technology Superman isn't real.

[Alphabet Man]

Frankly, I don't see how the flags of Australia and New Zealand are so "easily" confused. Sure, both flags feature Blue fields with the British Union Jack occupying the upper canton nearest the staff and a depiction of the Southern Cross constellation occupying space in the fly.

However, on the Australian flag the Southern Cross is comprised of five, all-White stars. The four brightest points in the constellation are represented by seven-pointed stars of the same size, while the lesser Epsilon Crucis is represented by a smaller, five-pointed star. Additionally, a large, seven-pointed, White "Commonwealth Star" occupies the hoist, centered below the Union Jack.

On the flag of New Zealand a stylized depiction of the Southern Cross is comprised of only four stars. Each of these five-pointed stars is Red outlined in White. Further, each of these stars varies slightly in size.

It seems simple enough to me: Six all-White stars = Australia; four Red stars trimmed in White = New Zealand.

Well how about you take those flags, go out on the street and asked some ordinary people which flag is which? (Kinda like Jaywalking) In fact, just plain ask them which country does this and that flag belong to.

And then ask those same people 5 random general knowledge questions and see how they go.

- What is the capital of Canada? Most people you will be able to ask will say "Toronto?"

- What is the capital of Australia? "Sydney?"

- Who won the World Cup of Football in 2002? Most will ask "you mean the Super Bowl?

- How long after World War 2 started did the Americans join the Allies? "What? We were there Day 1. Weren't we? The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour, right?"

- How does Superman fly?

Who cares what the 'ordinary people' think?

Ordinary people usually don't think.

For the curious.

Ottawa. (Also Odda-wah, eh)

Canberra. (Also Kan-bra, mate)

Brazil.

2 years 3 months 5 days. (Sept 3 1939 to 8 Dec 1941) I'd accept 2 years as being correct though.

Blue Screen movie technology Superman isn't real.

to even think Sydney is the capital of our great country is disgraceful, they could at least say Melbourne cos we used to be the capital.... and really we woul still be the capital had the Sydneysiders not complained

also our flag is a darker blue i think

[IceCap]

during 1981 i think, the prime minister of austrailia visited ottawa. that day ottawa was suppose to have an australian flag on every street, or something like that. when the australian prime minister arived he was suprised to see ottawa covered with nz flags. this mistake wasnt made by normal people on the street, it was made by officials in the canadian goverenmnet, a governmnet that has always had good relations with australia.

[DEAD!]

Who cares what the 'ordinary people' think?

Ordinary people usually don't think.

I care....... because I want to see just how dumb people are

[Gothamite]

Frankly, I don't see how the flags of Australia and New Zealand are so "easily" confused....

It seems simple enough to me: Six all-White stars = Australia; four Red stars trimmed in White = New Zealand.

And yet it happens frequently. Many a time, the Australian PM goes to visit a foreign country, who welcomes him with New Zealand flags waving in the breeze.

But hey, if the people trying to save the Australian flag get them confused, then we foreigners are excused, I think.

[plattopus]

(And by the same token, why did the Netherlands choose orange as their national colour?)

because the royal family of the netherlands dates back to the country's founder, william of orange.

Whoa, cool! Thanks for that, I had no idea!

[plattopus]

Re the new flag, when I was in grade 6 we had a project where we had to design our own version of the Australian flag, and a girl in my class came up with the best damn flag I've ever seen. It was basically the aboriginal flag, but instead of a sphere in the centre, it was an outline of the Australian land mass.

It was so cool. I'd vote for that.

[Alphabet Man]

during 1981 i think, the prime minister of austrailia visited ottawa. that day ottawa was suppose to have an australian flag on every street, or something like that. when the australian prime minister arived he was suprised to see ottawa covered with nz flags. this mistake wasnt made by normal people on the street, it was made by officials in the canadian goverenmnet, a governmnet that has always had good relations with australia.

then the story of Edwin Flack comes to mind....

Edwin Flack was an Englishman that moved to Australia and lived most of his life in Berwick in Melbourne. He went to university in England when the 1896 Olympics were about to start and England had no Olympic team so they sent that university. Flack went on to win a couple of golds and after the race he was asked what nationality he was, so he replied 'Stuff this, i'm an Australian' and therefore replied 'Australian'......then came the medal presentations and the played the Austrian national anthem for Australia's first gold medalist.

[Alphabet Man]

For comparisin

[plattopus]

For comparisin

That could just be a bad digital representation. I've seen the Australian flag in a blue similar to that NZ hue.

[Alphabet Man]

yeah well they are the first image i found on google

[rmered]

Both blues are officially Pantone 280 C

The red is different, Aus is 185C, NZ is 186C

[IceCap]

here are the illustrations from the flags of the world website. the guy who runs it is like pantone, in that all of the flag illustrations are coloured in the exact shades that the flags are coloured in real life. so i feel pretty confedernt that the site's illustrations of the australian and nz flag are accurate toward their respective shades of red, white, and blue.

australia

nz

[IceCap]

(And by the same token, why did the Netherlands choose orange as their national colour?)

because the royal family of the netherlands dates back to the country's founder, william of orange.

Whoa, cool! Thanks for that, I had no idea!

no problem.

[JetsLuvver]

(And by the same token, why did the Netherlands choose orange as their national colour?)

because the royal family of the netherlands dates back to the country's founder, william of orange.

Whoa, cool! Thanks for that, I had no idea!

Also, the Dutch flag originally had an orange stripe instead of the red one.

[Primal]

Boing.