‘Fred the Flag Man’ promotes his design in Ballina
Should this be our new flag. Indeed, do we need one? Fred Rieben, of Perth, thinks so, and he’s spent the past six years travelling the country trying to convince Australians that his design, the Southern Cross and Boomerang, is what we need.
Fred was at Ballina’s Lighthouse Beach carpark this morning promoting his flag design to people who had stopped to check the surf or simply take in the view on a beautiful morning.
He was handing out stickers and asking for a couple of dollars ‘to keep the printer happy’.
Fred, a former United States citizen who has been in Australia since 1982, says he spent 16 years designing the flag. He says the green and gold on the flag represents our national colours; the Southern Cross is the constellation of our nation; gold is for the economy, commerce, mining and agriculture; and the boomerang design shows a uniquely Australian implement which is a tool, a weapon and a musical instrument representing technology, science and art. The dots on the flag are ‘open to interpretation’, Fred said.
Fred says he has handed out 10,000 car stickers and had 50,000 stickers distributed.
On this current promotional tour, he’s been on the road for 15 months. He says he has received ‘good media’ and is getting ‘massive support’.
Why do we need a new flag, Ballina Info asked.
“The current flag has served us well but as a young maturing country we need our own flag, and not have some other country’s flag,” he said.
Fred said that Canada, which also is a former British colony, changed its flag in 1964, and when he arrived in Australia in 1982, ‘I said, that’s (the Union Jack on our flag) gotta go.’
We asked if he met much opposition to his campaign — after all, changing our national flag has been a touchy issue for the past couple of decades.
“I get everything,” he said. “But I’ve become good at handling it.”
Whether he gets support or opposition, Fred plans to continue his campaign. He says he’s having a ball touring the country.
Do you agree with Fred’s design? Or is he well out of order in calling for the change?
You can let him know by logging on to his website www.flagoz.com
May 3rd, 2007 at 8:23 pm
I must admit that I am in two minds about whether Australia needs a new flag. Like it or not British settlement changed the course of Australian history and we have developed a strong identity representing the current flag.
But then on the other hand, Australia has forged its own identity (still can’t believe we didn’t vote to become a republic) and I wouldn’t be adverse to a new design. I have some bad news Fred though, his design doesn’t do much for me.