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Christmas Island

image by Željko Heimer
Flag ratio 1:2, adopted 14 Apr 1986, made official 26 Jan 2002

History of the flag
Symbolism of the flag

See also

Australia

History of the Flag

The flag of Christmas Island was chosen from a flag competition held in 1986 and announced on April 14, 1986. There were 69 entries in the competition which had a prize of $100 (Australian). The winning design was created by Tony Couch of Sydney, who had worked on the island for 4 years as a phosphate mining rigging supervisor. Although the flag was selected, its status has not been officially approved by the Christmas Island Assembly.

As you know, Christmas Island off the coast of Australia has had an unofficial flag since the 80's. It appears this flag has been official since Australia Day 2002. I wrote the Christmas Island Government. They sent me this article, which is here.
Joshua Holman, 20 April 2006

The article the link refers to was published in The Islander, issue no. 245, on 1 February 2002. The Islander is the newsletter of the Shire of Christmas Island and the only local newspaper in circulation.
Margaret Robinson, CEO, Shire of Christmas Island, 26 April 2006

Symbolism of the flag

The blue and green triangles represent the sea surrounding the island and the vegetation of the island. The Southern cross in the blue triangle is the representation appearing in the Australian flag.

The image in the green triangle is the Golden Bosun Burd, which is unique to the island.

The gold disk in the center of the flag represents the island's phosphate mining history and originally included to provide a background for the green map of Christmas Island.

The flag was certainly influenced by that of Papua New Guinea
Željko Heimer, 7 February 2001

Carlos Esperza suggests that the southern cross may have stars with different numbers of points, as on the Victorian and Northern Territory flags:

image by Carlos Esperza

My wife has returned from working on the Island and reported that the flag was flown at the Airport but not seen elsewhere as locals report they are frequently stolen, presumably as souvenirs.

A postcard photo shows the Carlos Esperza version to be incorrect with the star to the right having 7 points. The green is darker (as in Norfolk Island).
4 March 2006